Now You Care

After seven years, environmental poet Di Brandt has released her fifth book of poetry. She's won numerous awards for her writing including the CAA National Poetry Prize. Now You Care is a poignant piece with its message beginning with the cover: power lines with green skeletons. You can't help but be effected from beginning to end. Now You Care is potent at times but deceptively safe. Brandt doesn't overstep any bounds into the grotesque. The flow of words is unhampered by periods giving it a feel of a conversation. Her imagery is vivid. Brandt words stab at what we know is true but often ignore because we are so unaffected until our bubble is popped and someone we love or even ourselves is put through an ordeal for lives. While Brandt words can sometimes be harsh and distracting from the real issue they are a wake up call to the world around us. The world we all live in. She talks a lot about breast victimization; it makes me wonder if someone close to her has lived through breast cancer for her to catch this topic by its heart. Now You Care isn't all doom and gloom, ok it mostly is. Throughout I kept wondering if she followed her own advice or if she contributes to the breakdown of the environment like everyone else (I didn't see anywhere that the book was printed on recycled paper for instance.) Everything from the conglomerates to politics is fare game. Especially America and Bush ("the enemy, their king will release us from her untimely abandonment, like the Pharoah, like Herod, like Hitler, like Bush...") Now You Care is a wonderful read, a reminder of what we've done, what we should do and the cost of ignorance. At times it comes across a preachy but there's no way to approach the subject without that angle. Beautiful words, harsh lessons, worth reading. Reviewed by M. E. Wood