The More
Ronna Bloom’s new poetry tests its music on the wards of a hospital. While circling a shadow theme of disappearance—retreating, giving out, giving up, being prone, down, waiting with death—Bloom is actually making poems that defend the opposite: tenderness as revelation, anger, strength, compassion as power, health! These poems are wide open. They do not turn away.
The More, by Ronna Bloom, published by Pedlar Press, Cover Art by Mark Rothko, Yellow over Purple, 1956.
The More was long-listed for The City of Toronto Book Awards 2018.
“Soulful, urgent, profound.”
“I think this is Bloom’s best collection yet. She actively engages with the world, saying things that I immediately want to write down to make mine.”
“Whether looking inward or outward, Bloom writes with directness, ringing clarity and a quiet wisdom. These are poems as luminous as the gorgeous Mark Rothko print that graces the book’s cover.”
“As an empathic observer, Bloom has captured feelings and associated impressions on the subject of mortality that are difficult to express, even for one experiencing them first-hand. This, along with the accessibility of her language, may lead some to consider her a Canadian contemporary People’s Poet, a kind of poet the country needs as much today as ever.”