All Things Said & Done

by Marita Dachsel

Shortlisted for the 2008 Relit Award for Poetry
Marita Dachsel's debut collection is a visceral exploration of the moments of life that stand out in the pages of a family album and the intervals of memory.
She playfully and poignantly documents first crushes, first times, weddings and trips across town, across water, and across continents. Dachsel perceptively sprinkles these moments with the details photographs don't reveal, as in "Dispatches from an Impending Marriage" Don't talk to me about photographers./ Nothing will capture this. A printed paper/ will only mock--/ a gaudy misrepresentation/ a plastic jesus on the mantle--/ two dimensions of fabric, teeth and skin.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2007

About the author

Marita Dachsel is the author of Glossolalia (Anvil Press, 2013), Eliza Roxcy Snow (rednettle press, 2009), and All Things Said & Done (Caitlin Press, 2007). Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry and the ReLit Prize and has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2011. Her play Initiation Trilogy was produced by Electric Company Theatre and featured at the 2012 Vancouver International Writers Fest. After many years in Vancouver and Edmonton, she and her family now live in Victoria.

Reviews

[Laura Frey (Reading in Bed)]

Sweet and sad and sexy poems! A bit more about how I got into this book: https://reading-in-bed.com/2017/11/14...

[Shannon]

This is a good little collection of timely BC poetry. Having visited most of the places that she muses about, including 'Northern' BC (though only the very romantic consider Williams Lake to be North, as it's not even halfway up the province) and Route 66, I could identify with many of the feelings and images that she describes. There are moments of absolute genius in this collection, juxtaposition of words that create a perfect feeling; however, I feel that the poems lead too often to the sex and lust of fresh relationships. While probably written at a time in her life where these things were current, it comes across as an easy out from more thoughtful revelations. Furthermore, a line in one poem is a direct steal from a Great Lake Swimmers song ("various stages of undress"). Overall, I think that Dachsel has a lot of talent, and I'd be interested in reading some of her work from a later, more tempered, period in her life.

[Alexis]

I loved this poetry book, which was written by a woman I know. It had great poems about travel, personal experiences and life in northern British Columbia. One of Marita's strengths is her ability to tell stories in poetic form, and to get into other peoples' heads. I thought this was a beautiful collection, and there is one poem "Flight" that I loved immensely and identified with completely.