By turns funny, frank, mysterious, and heartbreaking, Standing in the Flock of Connections, Heather Cadsby’s fifth collection of poetry, is one hundred proof associative thought. These poems testify to the human mind’s capacity to “do”—taking into account all of the performative, causal, athletic, and sexual connotations of that verb. Many of them come in on an overheard conversation or monologue—mid-fight, mid-stride—and the absent details and specifics often function to open up a space for things to become other things, for the flock of connections to swarm.

Heather Cadsby was born in Belleville, Ontario and moved to Toronto at a young age. She obtained a BA degree from McMaster University and taught elementary school for a number of years. In the 1980s she helped organize poetry readings at the Axle-Tree Coffee House in Toronto. A co-founder of the poetry press Wolsak and Wynn, she is the author of five books of poetry, has been a finalist for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and served for many years as a director of the Art Bar Poetry Series. She continues to live in Toronto.

Heather Cadsby's profile page

“…verse that demonstrates wit and levity as well as a seriousness at its heart … capable of blasphemy … an honest inquiry into life and the inherent duality of the moment.”

Gillian Harding-Russell