There Are Not Enough Sad Songs

Marita Dachsel is the author of Glossolalia and All Things Said & Done. Her work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry, the Acorn-Plantos Award for People’s Poetry, and the ReLit Award. Her play Initiation Trilogy was nominated for both a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Script and the Critics’ Choice Innovation Award. She lives with her family on Lekwungen territory in Victoria, British Columbia.

• Contents1 after the funeral2 spring3 sizzle4 illusion5 vermin6 inheritance7 our home needs to be painted8 self portrait9 alberta avenue10 the impossibility of fireflies11 klondike12 may is an uneasy month13 returning from seeing the man with the beard of bees14 our guilt stays with us15 good to keep busy16 neighbourly17 he always gave us the creeps18 my money’s on the magpie19 my mum’s grandmother had a terrible accidentwhen she was a young mother20 grown up21 main & broadway22 hold on23 your light, your light24 a sonnet for middle-age mothers25 solstice26 gentle infestation27 mothering28 cavity29 clover point30 beached31 epithalamium32 check for spots34 yes, let’s35 the forties36 unfasten37 these days, those days38 accumulate39 now is the season of open windows40 shuswap july41 vanish42 plato island43 always with the fucking fish44 we both wore red lipstick45 obligatory road trip46 swing therapy47 before serious49 even bleach can’t remove the smell50 for phillis wheatley51 the birth of father yod52 roots53 keepsake54 last suppers55 arbutus56 there are not enough sad songs57 down under58 terminal59 new year’s day, 201560 child63 Acknowledgements

# 1 on Edmonton Fiction Bestsellers list, April 3, 2019