In her first poetry collection in more than a decade, celebrated
novelist and poet Lynn Crosbie creates a sustained and confessional
record of her father's illness.
The Corpses of the Future is a sustained, confessional new collection
of poems by Lynn Crosbie. It tells the story of her father's battle with
frontotemporal dementia and blindness following a stroke. The poems
chronologically recount the poet's conversations and time with her
father and capture his still-astonishing means of communicating. The
book's title is his sardonic remark. Crosbie considers dementia to be a
symbolic language, and as such similar to poetry. The author's attempts
to understand her father's distress, pain, fear, and brave love are
assisted by her understanding of the "negative capability" required of
readers of poetry.
This is a harrowing book, with moments of joy and even levity. It is a
collection of poetry about love, and love's persistence, even under the
most unspeakable circumstances.