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"This poem begins where Bulimia ends
or maybe, just maybe, when it started. Where
the differential diagnosis is confused
by decades of self-made violence. Poverty,
colonialism, god, all prisms that will shatter
one day, if not now…"
Part self-interrogation, part confession, part hospital diary, the intense, heartbreakingly frank poems in Brandi Bird's second collection detail the author's ongoing struggles with eating disorders and depression, conditions that disproportionately afflict Indigenous girls, women, and two-spirited persons. These challenging poems investigate the relationship between sexuality and eating disorders as well as how the voyeurism of religion (the idea of being eternally watched) intersects with both of those spheres. They also raise questions about body shaming and body sovereignty-a failed sovereignty in this case, as "sovereignty" itself is a communal concept. In the tradition of poets like Amy Berkowitz (Tender Points) and Hannah Green (Xanax Cowboy), the poems in Pitiful also lay bare the way patriarchy, medical sexism, and bigotry have not only sabotaged the treatment of such conditions but often make them worse.
Part self-interrogation, part hospital diary, these heartbreakingly frank poems detail the author's struggles with eating disorders and depression.
• EXCITING NEW VOICE: Brandi Bird's debut poetry collection, The All + Flesh was nominated for the 2024 Governor General's Award and was awarded the 2024 Indigenous Voice Award for Poetry, with nearly 1,000 copies sold.
• INDIGIQUEER POETRY: For fans of Amy Berkowitz and Hannah Green, Brandi's singular voice tackles mental health, wellness culture, and feminism from an Indigiqueer perspective.
• DISMANTLING BIGOTRY: The poetry in Pitiful examines themes of sexism, depression, medical discrimination, and disordered eating.
or maybe, just maybe, when it started. Where
the differential diagnosis is confused
by decades of self-made violence. Poverty,
colonialism, god, all prisms that will shatter
one day, if not now…"
Part self-interrogation, part confession, part hospital diary, the intense, heartbreakingly frank poems in Brandi Bird's second collection detail the author's ongoing struggles with eating disorders and depression, conditions that disproportionately afflict Indigenous girls, women, and two-spirited persons. These challenging poems investigate the relationship between sexuality and eating disorders as well as how the voyeurism of religion (the idea of being eternally watched) intersects with both of those spheres. They also raise questions about body shaming and body sovereignty-a failed sovereignty in this case, as "sovereignty" itself is a communal concept. In the tradition of poets like Amy Berkowitz (Tender Points) and Hannah Green (Xanax Cowboy), the poems in Pitiful also lay bare the way patriarchy, medical sexism, and bigotry have not only sabotaged the treatment of such conditions but often make them worse.
Part self-interrogation, part hospital diary, these heartbreakingly frank poems detail the author's struggles with eating disorders and depression.
• EXCITING NEW VOICE: Brandi Bird's debut poetry collection, The All + Flesh was nominated for the 2024 Governor General's Award and was awarded the 2024 Indigenous Voice Award for Poetry, with nearly 1,000 copies sold.
• INDIGIQUEER POETRY: For fans of Amy Berkowitz and Hannah Green, Brandi's singular voice tackles mental health, wellness culture, and feminism from an Indigiqueer perspective.
• DISMANTLING BIGOTRY: The poetry in Pitiful examines themes of sexism, depression, medical discrimination, and disordered eating.