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Ripping down half the trees Evan J

Ripping down half the trees By Evan J

Ripping down half the trees by Evan J


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Summary

One out of every twenty students in the adult education classes Evan J teaches in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, dies every year; the surviving students are often afflicted by severe racism, poverty, addictions, and violence. Ripping down half the trees engages with these struggles, offering a catalogue of experiences specific to the remote regions of Canada.

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Ripping down half the trees Summary

Ripping down half the trees by Evan J

Some poems can live without souls / but mine remain ghastly fools flicking / uncomfortable narratives like / cigarette butts during class change.

One out of every twenty students in the adult education classes Evan J teaches in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, dies every year; the surviving students are often afflicted by severe racism, poverty, addictions, and violence. Ripping down half the trees engages with these struggles, offering a catalogue of experiences specific to the remote regions of Canada.

Tearing down the facade of Canadian justice and equality to expose the racism, colonialism, sexism, prejudicial capitalism, and ableism at the nation's core, these are poems about cruelty, both the obvious and the ambient. They are unflinching in their sociopolitical criticism, upset by unchanging systemic oppressions, unable to overlook the threat of the author's white skin, unwilling to forget Justin Trudeau in blackface. And while they acknowledge the limits of the author's privileged perspective, they are never willing to let the perpetrating structures of this cruelty go unchecked.

But these poems also let stand the shelterwood, the upstanding actions of individuals, the totems of hope. They work as coping strategies, as therapy, as empathy, offering a glimpse of optimism and a space for discourse. These are poems that listen.

Ripping down half the trees Reviews

In Ripping down half the trees readers are guided by a multitude of speakers who will bring them to sometimes dark and uncomfortable spaces where 'the lights are always off.' Exploring a range of themes, from the social and racial inequalities found within Canada to how to pluck pheasant and how to respond to hostility, Evan J artfully confronts and questions his privilege, thereby causing the speaker's eyes to adjust so that we may do the same. Ripping down half the trees is poignant and stark, yet filled with 'unfathomable beauty.' Greg Santos, author of Ghost Face


To read Ripping down half the trees is to experience a jarring feeling of contradiction and a provocation to contemplate how apathy plays a part in our lives. Evan J's words are arresting and urgent and woven with visceral images, linguistic precision, and sharp emotive undertones that cut to the bare bones of human experience. This is not an easy read. Evan skilfully guides the reader through that which is fraught - the violence of modern living. But more than that, it is written with an eye for beauty and a deep care for people and place. Lishai Peel, co-author of Why Birds and Wolves Don't Trade Stones

About Evan J

Evan J (he/him) is from Manitoba and now lives and writes in the town of Sioux Lookout, Ontario.

Additional information

CIN0228005469G
9780228005469
0228005469
Ripping down half the trees by Evan J
Used - Good
Paperback
McGill-Queen's University Press
20210601
120
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Ripping down half the trees