Poems for the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

9780864925367

Soraya Peerbaye (Author) $18.95 Paperback Published October 2, 2009 - In Stock Goose Lane Editions

In this first collection, Soraya Peerbaye explores in exquisite detail the material and the ephemeral, from the intricacies of objects owned by her father, and the habits that animate them, to the landscape and residents of the Antarctic Peninsula. Throughout, she weaves a poetic treatise on the meaning of naming and gesture; how they can express possession and power over another, or kinship, inquisitiveness, openness, mercy, and love. This astonishing sequence of poems moves with a lightness of being in the floating world of incisive language.

Accolades

“These are marvellous poems, deft, rich, searching, and with remarkable range: tender in recalling her father’s French and Creole roots, spare and brilliant in depicting the landscape of Antarctica. For Peerbaye words connect lives across time and space. Reading her poems sharpens our own connection with the world.” — John Steffler, author of That Night We Were Ravenous

“If the poet has a duty to see and name, Soraya Peerbaye has answered the call. I believe in this, the object, quotidian, beloved, she writes, fully aware of how names change as we encounter them, lose and regain and even rename them, in turn renaming us. Unapologetically gentle and intimate, this ambitious first book is not a mere coming-of-age, but a coming into one’s own, introducing us to an explorer aware of the joys and dangers of intrusion.” — Priscila Uppal, author of To Whom It May Concern

"A sense of place and story dominates this first collection. Soraya Peerbaye . . . has an ear for languages and how it shapes experience . . . Peerbaye as a companion-poet is quietly deft, her voice ranging from lyrical to muscial plain-speaking." - Barbara Myers, Arc Poetry Magazine