Poetry
Sit How You Want
- Publisher
- Véhicule Press
- Published
- April 2, 2018
- Pages
- 78
- Price
- $17.95
- ISBN
- 9781550654974
- Language
- English
On the publisher’s site (opens in a new tab) In bookstores (opens in a new tab)
Power and sex take centre stage in Robin Richardson’s formidable third collection, Sit How You Want. Plane crashes and automobile mishaps are the backdrop for female narrators who grapple with terror, anxiety, and powerlessness: “When I say I’m fine I mean the sky has opened / like an old wound under scurvy.” In their grim wit, sinister straight talk, and sometimes violent bawdiness, Richardson’s poems work as counter-charms against the lingering trauma of abusive relationships, both familial and romantic. The book embodies a belief in poetry as an instrument of change, a tool for transforming pain into exuberant verbal energy: “It is the thrill of ruination / makes us innovate.”
Reviews
“Richardson proclaims that now is the hour of independence and bravura… Her poems are rambunctious but bleak in outlook. Hints of danger are everywhere.” – Nicholas Bradley, Canadian Literature
“Robin Richardson’s poems take no prisoners, have a strange and authentic music all their own, and mark her … as one of the best young poets of her generation.”– Thomas Lux
“Richardson uses the poetic image like a tourniquet on the eyes while a self-aware wound is inflicted elsewhere in the imagination.”– Margaret Christakos
Description from the publisher Véhicule Press, seen in October 2026 · Source ↗
From Véhicule Press
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We Drove All Day for This Bruce Taylor
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Qaf’s People Sadiqa de Meijer
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My Summer Vacation Zeenat Nagree
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Cannibal Rats Richard Greene
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Morgan’s Castle Jan Hilliard
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How to Move On Joel Yanofsky
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Private Number David Homel
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Fan Mail Jason Guriel
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The Inferno Dante Alighieri
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Quietly, Loving Everyone Curtis John McRae
