Sabotage

By Priscila Uppal

Sabotage is a collection of poems exploring private and public acts of destruction, disruption and vandalism in the 21st century. In Sabotage, several vital sites are under attack or at risk: the human body (including the brain and biological systems); structures of community (including family, nation, and institutional supports); and cultural legacies (including language, artistic works, and historical legacies). The sections of Sabotage frame this investigation of violations through recognisable legal and literary frameworks: Accusations, Discussions, Adaptations, Riddles, Arguments and Defences. But with Priscila Uppal as the 'framing' poet, the poems are both exact and penetrating, and at the same time startling, surreal and deeply moving. The poet also acts as saboteur, attempting political action and breaking down barriers through the manipulation of language, in order to disrupt the production of goods which have left us with a tampered and soiled legacy. Poetry provides imaginative space for experimentation dissent, and creative problem-solving. Readers of Sabotage will have the potential to assume the role of saboteur - but the crux is, to what end? 'Audacious, irreverent, funny and, at the same time, deeply serious, Priscila Uppal's poems explore our notions of identity and various other conventions we live by striving to see through the lies. The ever-present horrors of our age; the injustice, the violence, the abuse and slaughter of the innocent, are almost always present. Uppal is a political poet who sounds like no other political poet, someone bound to get in trouble in every political system in the world. Her subject matter tends to be dark, but her telling of it is exhilarating. Every poem in her book comes as a surprise, and that includes the free translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer which in her version deals with the Iraq war and the fate of people displaced by such calamities. Uppal has done the rare and difficult thing: she has brought a brand new voice to poetry' - John Burnside, Charles Simic & Karen Solie, Griffin Prize judges.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Release date: Feb 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781780372327

Priscila Uppal

Priscila Uppal was an internationally acclaimed poet, prose writer, and playwright. A York University professor and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she was the author of Ontological Necessities and Cover Before Striking. Her memoir, Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother, was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize and a Governor General’s Award.

Book preview

PRISCILA UPPAL

SABOTAGE

Sabotage is a collection of poems exploring private and public acts of destruction, disruption and vandalism in the 21st century. In Sabotage, several vital sites are under attack or at risk: the human body (including the brain and biological systems); structures of community (including family, nation, and institutional supports); and cultural legacies (including language, artistic works, and historical legacies). The sections of Sabotage frame this investigation of violations through recognisable legal and literary frameworks: Accusations, Discussions, Adaptations, Riddles, Arguments and Defences. But with Priscila Uppal as the ‘framing’ poet, the poems are both exact and penetrating, and at the same time startling, surreal and deeply moving.

The poet also acts as saboteur, attempting political action and breaking down barriers through the manipulation of language, in order to disrupt the production of goods which have left us with a tampered and soiled legacy. Poetry provides imaginative space for experimentation dissent, and creative problem-solving. Readers of Sabotage will have the potential to assume the role of saboteur – but the crux is, to what end?

‘Audacious, irreverent, funny and, at the same time, deeply serious, Priscila Uppal’s poems explore our notions of identity and various other conventions we live by striving to see through the lies. The ever-present horrors of our age; the injustice, the violence, the abuse and slaughter of the innocent, are almost always present. Uppal is a political poet who sounds like no other political poet, someone bound to get in trouble in every political system in the world. Her subject matter tends to be dark, but her telling of it is exhilarating. Every poem in her book comes as a surprise, and that includes the free translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer which in her version deals with the Iraq war and the fate of people displaced by such calamities. Uppal has done the rare and difficult thing: she has brought a brand new voice to poetry’ – John Burnside, Charles Simic & Karen Solie, Griffin Prize judges.

COVER PICTURE

Sus aux saboteurs! – Le Petit Journal (1911)

For all those who pick up the pieces

with bare hands

If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it’s the light of an oncoming train.

ROBERT LOWELL

Because your crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear

BEASTIE BOYS

CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

ACCUSATIONS

Accusations

The Responsible Party

A Diorama of Your Anger Drifts Downstream

Class Action Suit

The Police Came for a Visit

Autumn

A Fall from Grace

Essential

In the Psych Ward

High Tide

The Dead Have Sabotaged My Facebook Page

Union Guarantees Health Benefits into the Afterlife

Compassion Fatigue

Leaving Sarajevo

DISCUSSIONS

Discussions Concerning Artistic Merit

ADAPTATIONS

Survivor

Temptation Island

Cosmic Idol

Rehab with Dr Drew

The Amazing Race

Toddlers in Tiaras

Swan

The Biggest Loser

Survivor II: This Time It’s Genocide

ARGUMENTS

In the Library

Let Me Bring You to the Brink

Inside Out

Forward Thinking

Advice for Burglars

We Have Nothing Else to Say to Each Other

To My Suicidal Husband

Who Will Bring You Breakfast When I’m Gone?

Epic Theory

Teaching is Becoming a Dangerous Profession

The Professor of Nothing

No Postcards

Identity Crisis

The Penguin and the Flamingo

There are No Time-outs in History

RIDDLES

RSVP

A Stranger Comes to Town