In 1934, Gertrude Stein asked 'What is poetry and if you know what poetry is what is prose.' Throaty Wipes answers this question and many more! How does broadband work? Does 'chuffed' mean pleased or displeased? What if the generations of Adam had mothers? Through her signature fusion of formal innovation and lyricism, Holbrook delivers what we've been waiting for.

'Here is language that has a joyous physicality, reminding usthat language and, therefore, poetry is first and foremost a physical act involving the muscles of the lips, tongue and jaw; here is language that, for all its playfulness and humour, is honed against the hard edges of a post-postmodern, globalized world. Formally adventurous, Throaty Wipes refracts a mash-up of consumer society replete with Disney Princesses; Barbie dolls; Biblical myth; romantically adapted fishing instructions; the hard, hard work of birthing; surgery; thebody in all its vulnerabilities; medical procedures; running; and PIN numbers for starters. Holding it all together is an overarching intelligence shot through with a lambent compassion for the ultimately fragile human condition. Throaty Wipes shows us how poetry is always about risk-taking inside and outside of language.' – M. NourbeSe Philip

Susan Holbrook’s poetry books are Ink Earl (Coach House 2021), Throaty Wipes (Coach House 2016), Joy Is So Exhausting (Coach House 2009), and misled (Red Deer 1999). Her most recent publication is Canon (Zed 2022), a chapbook featuring great works of literature translated through a calculator. She has also written a textbook, How to Read (and Write About) Poetry (Broadview Press 2021), and edited Intertidal: Daphne Marlatt--The Collected Earlier Poems (Talonbooks) and The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson: Composition as Conversation (Oxford UP). Her work has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Governor General's Award, the Trillium Book Award, the Trillium Award for Poetry, and the Pat Lowther Award. She teaches Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor. She lives in Leamington, Ontario.

Susan Holbrook's profile page

• Short-listed, Governor General’s Award for Poetry