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Poetry Canadian

Unravel

Poems

by (author) Tolu Oloruntoba

Publisher
McClelland & Stewart
Initial publish date
Mar 2025
Category
Canadian, African American, Places
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780771013966
    Publish Date
    Mar 2025
    List Price
    $22.95

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Description

“These are poems of deep thought, passionate engagement, and often searing images.” —Toronto Star (on Each One a Furnace)

A poetic exploration of the cyclical philosophy of dismantling and remaking, Unravel is a moving and inventive rove through what could happen in the deconstructed aftermath of person and world.

About the author

Tolu Oloruntoba is the author of the Anstruther Press chapbook Manubrium. His poetry has appeared in Pleiades, Columbia Journal, Entropy, and other publications, and his short fiction has appeared in translation in Dansk PEN Magazine. He founded Klorofyl, a magazine of literary and graphic art, and practiced medicine before his current work managing projects for health authorities in British Columbia. After a somewhat itinerant life in Nigeria and the United States, he emigrated to the Greater Vancouver Area, where he lives with his family.

Tolu Oloruntoba's profile page

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Tolu Oloruntoba and Unravel:
“'Everything is coda in a never-ending world,’ writes Tolu Oloruntoba in his spectacular third book. Spiralling through a myriad of histories, experiences, and dictions, the language’s momentum is modulated by Oloruntoba’s deft control of line and syntax. This tension, this craft, enables Oloruntoba to slow and to explore the bewildering and fascinating ruptures in self-making, world-making. This is symphonic and soaring poetry.” —Eduardo C. Corral, author of Guillotine
"Unravel by Tolu Oloruntoba is a dope and fascinating collection of poetry that navigates the intersections of identity, migration, fatherhood, and history. A vivid poetic digging in the crates, it threads through the many layers of Whitman’s multitudes: the Nigerian self, riffing on memories of home; the immigrant self, navigating displacement and belonging; the father self, reflecting on his new born daughter; and the literary self, referencing a rich reading history. Unravel lingers in the mind as a testament to Oloruntoba’s ability to blend intellect and emotion into unforgettable verse." —Reginald Dwayne Betts, author of Felon
“This stunning collection of poems is a searing, prophetic commentary on the banalities of late modern life. The language is shot through with philosophical brilliance and spiritual energy. These poems play with diction in a way that is deadly serious—even apocalyptic, unveiling something of the world and ourselves.” —James K.A. Smith, Calvin University, author of How (Not) To Be Secular and How to Inhabit Time

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