simpson’s work has been performed at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (2017) in Peterborough, and in Guelph with the Vancouver Slam Poetry 2018 Team.

The poem begins with the line, “I stopped reaching out when she locked the door to my bedroom,” and the reader soon sees how simpson makes a key out of the words of the poem.I mean I’m getting heart palpitations from poor health and want to do all these things to improve it and I make all these plans to do it but when it comes to it I just can’t no matter how hard I try and I’m stuck in a viscous cycle of telling myself I’m going to do better and then hating myself at the end of the day. The report found that 57% of brands assessed have a formal animal welfare policy, a figure that has almost doubled since the inaugural report was published last year. When it comes to domesticated animals, the report places emphasis on the importance of certifications in promoting animal welfare. The line breaks and intervals between words are precise and rhythmic, emphasizing certain words or phrases, painting detailed scenes, and illustrating the ups and downs of each story and the ascending and descending tones of each line as if it were being read out loud. Seven luxury brands received a score of 0% and the lowest brand ratings, including Hermès, Prada and LVMH-owned Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Dior.

This technique reappears throughout the full collection and has evidently been developed through simpson’s experiences as a spoken word performer.However, simpson also includes concrete poems that push boundaries, forcing the reader to pause and sit with the message a little longer. The systemic issues of the foster-care system carry into and intersect with many other poems, such as “boy. Whether glass, bone, teeth, or blades, this image of weapons as self-defence is reoccurring throughout the collection.

Sorry for the rant I’ve been of my meds for the last few days and just remembering how hard life actually is when I’m not on them but realising all the challenges I still face even on them. Resilience and resistance against a vicious and oppressive system drip through every line of this powerful piece. The difficult decision will then be whether or not to let your family know or simply to take that step on your own.At the level of craft, simpson makes use of the codes of tragedy, polemic, autobiography and the lyric artfully and powerfully. I just really appreciated so much about what and how the author shared about their expressions of experiences in their unique life. The vulnerability in simpson’s poetry breaks down how healing is an ongoing process, and how part of it is learning to trust and love the body, even the scars. I skimmed through most of the poems in the latter part of the collection, and some of them I couldn’t even read. In this stunning debut they speak truths to the complexities of the body, land and memory through an intimately structured and poignant cadence.