Mad Long Emotion - by Ben Ladouceur (Paperback)

About the Book

Desire and dieffenbachias: new poems from the award-winning author of Otter.

Book Synopsis

Mad Long Emotion wants to talk flora to fauna like you. It talks by dancing, as bumblebees do. In its dances, loosestrife shoos humans away, green carnations flirt with handsome men beyond the shade, and "dogbanes though dead bloom." Meanwhile, in better-discerned motion, numerous species both spiny and spineless prove invasive, from Great Lake lampreys to hydraulic triceratopses. But they're just looking for better homes. The book concludes with a long poem about distance, desire and the difficulty of combining the two.

Lend this book your eyes and nose; mouth its contents to your house plants. The poetry of Mad Long Emotion wants to live forever, and you can make that happen with your face.

About the Author

Ben Ladouceur is the author of nine chapbooks and the collection Otter (Coach House Books), which was named a best book of 2015 by the National Post, nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, and awarded the 2016 Gerald Lampert Memorial Prize. He has published poetry in many North American publications, including Poetry (Chicago), The Awl, and The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry, and short fiction in publications like Maisonneuve, The Malahat Review and Prairie Fire. In 2018, he received the Dayne Ogilvie Prize. He lives in Ottawa.