Ajar - by Margo Lapierre (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The poems in Ajar navigate the physical and psychological dangers of womanhood through the flattening lens of mood disorder. Psychosis isn't the opposite of reality--it's another perceptual system. If neurotypical thought measures the world in centimetres, this collection measures it in inches, gallons, amperes. Ajar celebrates radical recovery from gendered violence and psychotic paradigm shifts, approaching madness through prismatic inquiry. As time converges within us, we find new ways to heal and grow. From the emergency room to the pharmacy to the fertility clinic to the dis/comfort of home and memory, this collection humanizes bipolar psychosis.

These poems depict suicidality and some of the violences that worsen the risk. In Canada, the suicide crisis helpline is 988 and it's available 24/7.

About the Author

Margo LaPierre is a neuroqueer poet and freelance editor specializing in literary novels, historical novels, and memoirs. She is Arc Poetry's newsletter editor and a member of the poetry collective VII. She won the 2021 Room Poetry Award and the 2020 subTerrain Fiction Award. She is completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Her second collection of poetry is forthcoming with Guernica Editions in 2025.