Safe Words

By Michelle Brown

From a student's confrontation with a teenage streaker, to a company man's complete undoing at his summer party, Michelle Brown's Safe Words finds rich darkness in happy partnerships. A maiden name is "handed down / like a sweater", a taxi ride "ends... at someone else's life". Played against a backdrop of pop culture, late-night swagger and vivid imaginary landscapes, Safe Words is the rare poetic debut that delivers passion and control, wielding humour and empathy in equal parts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palimpsest Press
• Release date: Apr 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781989287071

Michelle Brown

Michelle Brown's first full-length collection of poetry, Safe Words was shortlisted for the 2018 ReLit award. A finalist for The Malahat Review's Open Season award, CV2’s Young Buck prize and the CBC poetry prize, her work has also appeared in The Walrus, Arc Poetry Magazine, Grain, PRISM International and The Puritan. After nearly a decade in Toronto, Michelle has recently returned to the West Coast, where she hangs out with her daughter, dog & husband.

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