You Might Be Sorry You Read This

Michelle Poirier Brown

• Publisher: University of Alberta Press
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781772126136
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

You Might Be Sorry You Read This is a stunning debut, revealing how breaking silences and reconciling identity can refine anger into something both useful and beautiful. A poetic memoir that looks unflinchingly at childhood trauma (both incestuous rape and surviving exposure in extreme cold), it also tells the story of coming to terms with a hidden Indigenous identity when the poet discovered her Métis heritage at age 38. This collection is a journey of pain, belonging, hope, and resilience. The confessional poems are polished yet unpretentious, often edgy but humorous; they explore trauma yet prioritize the poet's story. Honouring the complexities of Indigenous identity and the raw experiences of womanhood, mental illness, and queer selfhood, these narratives carry weight. They tell us "You need / only be the simple / expression of the divine / intent / that is your life." There is a lifetime in these poems.

Table of contents

• Front cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Epigraph
• The Father I Had
• God Was a Baby
• A Child’s Book of Holy Services
• Her Breath on My Face
• Other Side of the Glass
• Effect on Her Throat
• The House on Strathnaver Avenue
• Mothers Who Know
• The Thing about Snow
• Photograph
• Under the Covers
• The Girls I Grew Up with Are Everywhere
• Short Change
• After the Test
• Walk on the Left-Hand Side
• 5:53 PM
• A Perspective on Women
• Collard Greens
• Lasts
• I’m Allowed to Have Whatever Kind of Father I Want
• Intimacy
• On the Porch
• At Times, My Teeth Chatter
• about face
• addendum
• poetic statement
• acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Other Titles from University of Alberta Press