Quiet Night Think

Poems & Essays

New!

“Quiet Night Think is a stunning work.” — Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing

“One function of the poet at any time is to discover by his own thought and feeling what seems to him to be poetry at that time,” writes Wallace Stevens. In Quiet Night Think, award-winning poet Gillian Sze expresses her own definition.

During the remarkable period of early parenthood, Sze’s new maternal role urges her to contemplate her own origins, both familial and artistic. Comprised of six personal essays, poems, and a concluding long poem, Quiet Night Think takes its title from a direct translation of an eighth-century Chinese poem by Li Bai, the subject of the opening essay. Sze’s memory of reading Li Bai’s poem as a child marks the beginning of an unshakable encounter with poetry. What follows is an intimate anatomization of her particular entanglement with languages and cultures.

In her most generically diverse book yet, Sze moves between poetry and prose, mother and writer, the lyrical and the autobiographical, all the while inviting readers to meditate with her on questions of emergence and transformation: What are you trying to be? Where does a word break off? What calls to us throughout the night?

Contributors

Gillian Sze

Gillian Sze is the author of multiple poetry collections, including Peeling Rambutan, Redrafting Winter, and Panicle, which were finalists for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. She resides in Montreal, where she teaches creative writing and literature.
Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

Preview

Poem "Instructions" 1 $0.10

Preview

Essay "Quiet Night Think" 5 $0.50

Preview

Poems "Fauna" – "Prayer" – "Ten Transitions" 6 $0.60

Preview

Essay "To Draw Water" 10 $1.00

Preview

Poems "Seize" – "Multiverse" – "Yard Work" – "Nursery" 4 $0.40

Preview

Essay "Perennials" 6 $0.60

Preview

Poems "Current" – "Wasaga" – "Babble" 4 $0.40

Preview

Essay "Sitting inside the Moon" 10 $1.00

Preview

Poems "Queen Mary Road" – "Kindling" – "Archaeology" – "Capricorn Onwards" 4 $0.40

Preview

Essay "The Hesitant Gaze" 10 $1.00

Preview

Poems "Above, the Geese" – "On Process" – "All I Have to Say" – "Inauguration" 4 $0.40

Preview

Essay "That World Inverted" 6 $0.60

Preview

Poem "Fricatives (A Visit)" 16 $1.60