Cartography and Walking

Susan McKnight is an administrator of the Courts Technology Integrated Justice Project at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.

In this debut poetry collection, the natural world and the world of
human emotions are inextricably bound. In one poem, the trees and clouds
take on human attributes; in the next, the human players take on animal
or vegetable attributes. Every aspect of the poet’s life reflects the
natural world around him, with nature providing a sense of universality
and endurance: “On the coast in a raincoat / your smile has been
dented by a lake, the fluting arms of rivers / have made your shoulders
/ look like the bark of birches.”

Adam Dickinson is the co-founder of The Olive, a chapbook publication
and poetry reading series.