D.C. Reid

What It Means To Be Human, a technically ambitous book of poetry, has the urgency and immediacy of a novel, but also distinctively prescise and fine-tuned by a lyric sensibility. What It Means to be Human is Reid’s tenth book: the title is both a statement and an open-ended question, as Reid explores what it does mean to be human, through individual stories, with compassion and grace. He employs the conventions of prose, point of view, multiple people, time shifts and plot, to weave an intricate tapestry of lives, where the past intersects with the present, while questioning the meaning of home and identity.

Lots of imagination and haunt here, the poems leading to fascinating new perceptions. I really admire the leaps you take and how deeply you trust your imagery.
Barry Dempster

Such good work in here.
Ken Babstock

… lush and hypnotic… lovely turns of phrase, devastating images, heart-rending characters… I love that the narrative is so strong but so fractured.
Alana Wilcox

D.C. Reid’s last two books of poetry, Love And Other Things That Hurt, and The Hunger were shortlisted, in their separate years, for the Dorothy Livesay Award, BC’s highest prize for a book of poetry. Among his many other awards, Reid has taken silver twice in the Bliss Carmen award. His work has been translated into Hindi and Spanish. He is the current President of the League of Canadian Poets.