Short Histories of Light

Aidan Chafe

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2018
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9780773552890
• Subtopic: Canadian Poetry
• Index: Literature

Shiver. Swift whip of wind. / Fangs of the low front / stinging fierce as forest fires. / Frost thickening the stoop.

In his debut collection, Short Histories of Light, Aidan Chafe recounts his Catholic upbringing in a household dealing with the common but too often taboo subject of mental illness.

In unflinching fashion, Chafe reveals the unintended disasters that follow those who struggle with depression and the frustration of loved ones left to pick up the pieces. Other sections of the book shine a light on the wounds inflicted by systems of patriarchy, particularly organized religion, and the caustic nature of humanity. Imagery and metaphor illuminate Chafe’s writing in a range of poetic forms, both modern and traditional. A boy stares helplessly through the walls of the family home, watches “filaments in glass skulls buzzing.” A father’s birthmark is described as a “scarlet letter.” Grandma is portrayed as a “forgotten girl on a Ferris wheel of feelings.”

Vivid and haunting, at once tender and terse, Short Histories of Light captures what it feels like to be a short circuit in a world of darkness.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• THETIS
• DISCONNECTION
• FATHER’S HAND
• NIGHT OWL
• BREATHING LESSONS
• GRANDMA’S APARTMENT
• RITA
• DIARY OF A REDHEAD
• PSYCH WARD HYMNAL
• MAJOR
• HELL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FIRE
• A SHORT HISTORY OF LIGHT
• MUTE SWAN
• CHIEF BROOM
• IGNORING PRESENCE OF MIND
• NATURE’S WARD
• PSYCH WARD HYMNAL
• CALCULATIONS FOR CATHOLICS
• WHY GOD IS A FATHER
• ABRAHAM
• GOSPEL ACCORDING TO UNCLE PETER
• OUR FATHER
• CALCULATIONS FOR CATHOLICS
• GENUFLECTION
• MIKE
• LOST LAMBS
• JESUS LIZARD
• MINDING THE GAP
• ON THE ORIGIN OF APPLES
• UNSETTLEMENT
• DEPENDENCY DAY
• VEGASTRICTION
• SALMON FISHING
• UNSETTLEMENT
• PUNJABI SCHOOLYARD
• MADE IN INDONESIA
• AT THE CORNER OF HOWE AND HASTINGS
• COMMUTE
• SIMILKAMEEN DREAM
• SHARPEST TOOTH
• FOXHOLE DIARY
• HYANNIS
• THE WOODS
• WEATHER HUNTER
• SHARPEST TOOTH
• RED, HAVING RENDERED
• DAUGHTERLY ADVICE
• TRAITORSPOTTING
• INCISIONS
• FIRESTARTERS
• HOUSEBOAT
• PAS DE DEUX
• PORTRAIT OF A BOY AS MIST
• ANATOMY OF CHAOS
• ACCIDENT
• PROLOGUE TO ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY
• NOTES
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS