![]() ![]() There is one point in the essay “The Joshua Tree” where you write that you won’t use the term “ex” - that you want to remove it from your lexicon - because “it’s a signifier that you didn’t want to attribute to a relationship, a disgusting word with its colonial sentiment of ownership, its finality.” I was so blown away by that you take that small word and explode it into something that takes you in all sorts of directions. That’s the work of language and I think all I’m kind of doing is transcribing sometimes. I find that (language) is already so rich that all you have to do is crack open a noun and you’ll see all the skeletons and webbing, and all the alternative meaning through etymology and through translation. They do that with characters, but also with language. I really like to hone in, like a director would, instead of doing the wide shot, into the really minute, really small. I mean, I always say brevity is not my forte. ![]() This is one of those small but mighty books, 200 pages with so much in it. We spoke about the new book, pop culture and how nouns can motor an essay. ![]() His new book, “Making Love With the Land,” is a series of essays with a fluidity, as you might expect from Whitehead, between form and subject. ![]() His first poetry collection, “Full Metal Indigiqueer,” was visually striking his first novel, “Jonny Appleseed,” won the CBC Canada Reads contest. Along the way, readers are entertained and provoked and enlightened. Joshua Whitehead is one of those rare writers: he can turn his hand to any form and make it his own. ![]()
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