Paramita, Little Black

In her first collection of poems, Suzanne Robertson meditates on the nature of intimacy; the connective tissue that binds stranger to stranger, human to animal, soul to landscape, heart to mind. Inspired by the Buddhist paramitas — actions that spark a spiritual sojourn, the poems attempt to both transcend and stay grounded in a conventional universe. Follow the humourous, pedestrian plight of a secretary/writer grappling with her noonday demon, her love affair with Little Black, and the metamorphosis of her marriage as she harnesses the practical power of poetry, marrying words "to the wind horse," "to the lies and the gossip and the truth of the river / as it pours out the mouth of right-now." Paramita, Little Black explores acts of transformation; documenting a journey to live and love authentically amidst the transient anatomy of our twenty-first century lives.

Suzanne Robertson's d—but collection of poetry is a glimpse into the mesmerizing psyche and sensibility of a person whose poetic ear and eye are always close to the ground. The narrator of these poems “listen[s] to the world so closely,” that the most tangential and ordinary moments are somehow transformed into such startling beauty as “the rustle of two cats falling / In love.” Yet the observing eye is always respectful, offering up image after image that resonates with intelligence and craft. Robertson takes us on an inward and thought-provoking journey that leads to the achingly beautiful elegy for “Little Black.” This is a book whose depth and power lie in Robertson's questioning of what it means to be a fully sentient human. — Laura Lush