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Cane Fire
From internationally celebrated writer and visual artist Shani Mootoo comes Cane | Fire , an immersive and vivid collection that marks a long-awaited return to poetry. Throughout this evocative, sensual collection, akin to a poetic memoir, past and present are in conversation with each other as the narrator moves from Ireland to San Fernando, and finally to Canada. The reinterpretations and translation of this journey and its associated family history give meaning to the present. Through these deeply personal poems, and Mootoo's own artwork, we begin to understand how a life can not only be shaped, but even reimagined.
126 pages, Paperback
Published March 15, 2022
1 person is currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Shani Mootoo
17 books195 followersShani Mootoo, writer, visual artist and video maker, was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1957 to Trinidadian parents. She grew up in Trinidad and relocated at age 24 to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She currently lives in Toronto, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 2, 2022
My rating these days are more in response to careless nonsense than my own true reactions. The reality I wish to declare within planet earth's dimensions is that this is NOT a 3-star book.
I know, I know. What do these stupid stars mean anyway. I know how I tilt my head and give a dampened Hmmm when I see an unknown book here at anything less than 4. Here is my effort to run the right current through our little consumer bot algorithm brains.
This is my fourth book by Shani Mootoo but my first journey through her poetry. Hymns, sitars, and nursery rhymes loop through lines that, put together, remind of an art installation. An audio piece here where a lullaby is interspersed with the sound of rushing water, wood breaking, screams. There is a video of a girl flying over Sutton street or nibbling on her grandmother's skin. Another of the same child as a boy rafting down the river with Huckleberry Finn. Another an assemblage of everyday items one might find in a parent's drawer.
Cane Fire, a poetic memoir, takes us through a highly sensory journey through the poet's memories. There is so much play with form here, both with words alone and with images, in ways that both inspire delight and presage darkness. I can't wait to re-read the second section in which Mootoo breaks down the familiar storyteller's "crick crack" to test the limits of what it can hold about us.
These are my early impressions after a first read. The book is absolutely worth your time. To readers who don't like poetry but would like to try please buy it or borrow a book from your local library or suffer. Don't request ARCs on Netgalley and make the effort to leave a review and rating here that you know isn't worth not even a gnat's time. The earth is dying. Save electricity.
Thanks to the publisher for the eCopy.
Bookstagram
I know, I know. What do these stupid stars mean anyway. I know how I tilt my head and give a dampened Hmmm when I see an unknown book here at anything less than 4. Here is my effort to run the right current through our little consumer bot algorithm brains.
This is my fourth book by Shani Mootoo but my first journey through her poetry. Hymns, sitars, and nursery rhymes loop through lines that, put together, remind of an art installation. An audio piece here where a lullaby is interspersed with the sound of rushing water, wood breaking, screams. There is a video of a girl flying over Sutton street or nibbling on her grandmother's skin. Another of the same child as a boy rafting down the river with Huckleberry Finn. Another an assemblage of everyday items one might find in a parent's drawer.
Cane Fire, a poetic memoir, takes us through a highly sensory journey through the poet's memories. There is so much play with form here, both with words alone and with images, in ways that both inspire delight and presage darkness. I can't wait to re-read the second section in which Mootoo breaks down the familiar storyteller's "crick crack" to test the limits of what it can hold about us.
These are my early impressions after a first read. The book is absolutely worth your time. To readers who don't like poetry but would like to try please buy it or borrow a book from your local library or suffer. Don't request ARCs on Netgalley and make the effort to leave a review and rating here that you know isn't worth not even a gnat's time. The earth is dying. Save electricity.
Thanks to the publisher for the eCopy.
Bookstagram
March 7, 2022
This past weekend I read CANE FIRE by Shani Mootoo and it was such an enjoyable experience! Shani Mootoo is a writer and visual artist who was born in Ireland, grew up in Trinidad and then relocated to Canada. I found myself absorbed into these poems and loving the unexpected surprises from each turn of the page. I loved the unique mix of text and visual form. I really enjoyed the poems that played with space on the page. My fave poems are Fine White Linen and The Smoothest Stones. Mootoo is not only a poet but also a novelist. I definitely want to read her novel Polar Vortex now!
Thank you Book*hug Press for my gifted review copy!
Thank you Book*hug Press for my gifted review copy!
January 16, 2022
I’m the first to review it and I realize that this is far from the first review a book dreams of, but bear with me, read the review as a subjective opinion of one reader not a defining one of a professional critic.
Modern poetry is a territory I tiptoe into reluctantly from time to time. I’m not expert and certainly not a tastemaker, just someone trying to expand their reading comfort zone and experience words in many forms.
I usually select the poetry I read at random, but this one was a deliberate choice. I read and enjoyed the author’s novel Polar Vortex and thought well, maybe this’ll be good too.
Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t, but it didn’t work for me at all. A good amount of modern poetry doesn’t, but usually I can enjoy a clever or an evocative turn of phrase here and there, find something original, different, lovely. And it wasn’t the case with this collection. It just didn’t work for me at all, didn’t sing for me, didn’t dance for me, didn’t excite.
It went by very quickly, but left nothing behind, no dazzling contrail, not even a glimmer of a distant delight. Maybe it’ll do those things to different readers, in fact, one can hope that it will, but this reviewer was thoroughgoingly un-wowed. Thanks Netgalley.
Modern poetry is a territory I tiptoe into reluctantly from time to time. I’m not expert and certainly not a tastemaker, just someone trying to expand their reading comfort zone and experience words in many forms.
I usually select the poetry I read at random, but this one was a deliberate choice. I read and enjoyed the author’s novel Polar Vortex and thought well, maybe this’ll be good too.
Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t, but it didn’t work for me at all. A good amount of modern poetry doesn’t, but usually I can enjoy a clever or an evocative turn of phrase here and there, find something original, different, lovely. And it wasn’t the case with this collection. It just didn’t work for me at all, didn’t sing for me, didn’t dance for me, didn’t excite.
It went by very quickly, but left nothing behind, no dazzling contrail, not even a glimmer of a distant delight. Maybe it’ll do those things to different readers, in fact, one can hope that it will, but this reviewer was thoroughgoingly un-wowed. Thanks Netgalley.
March 21, 2022
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
I'm gonna be honest, I knew there was a big chance I would not like this before I chose to read it but I like giving books a chance and I feel like one of these days I'm gonna really find a modern poetry collection that is experimental and blows me away. Unfortunately this was not that at all. So take my review with a grain of salt because I tend to, by rule, not enjoy these very much.
I didn't connect with this book in general. There was times when it seemed like a poem was gonna get me but it never really did and just left me more and more disappointed throughout the pages. Some pages seemed so extremely experimental that I feel like you really needed to be in the flow of the book and enjoying the ride to appreciate them and in my case it got me further away. I was not a big fan of the collages either but I would still recommend to check the artist and give this a try if you like what you see and if you are generally a fan of similar poetry.
Personally, this was not for me.
I'm gonna be honest, I knew there was a big chance I would not like this before I chose to read it but I like giving books a chance and I feel like one of these days I'm gonna really find a modern poetry collection that is experimental and blows me away. Unfortunately this was not that at all. So take my review with a grain of salt because I tend to, by rule, not enjoy these very much.
I didn't connect with this book in general. There was times when it seemed like a poem was gonna get me but it never really did and just left me more and more disappointed throughout the pages. Some pages seemed so extremely experimental that I feel like you really needed to be in the flow of the book and enjoying the ride to appreciate them and in my case it got me further away. I was not a big fan of the collages either but I would still recommend to check the artist and give this a try if you like what you see and if you are generally a fan of similar poetry.
Personally, this was not for me.
January 16, 2022
Shani Mootoo is a writer/poet who is new to me, but I don’t mind this as I am always on the lookout for work by new poets, so I picked up and read this collection with an open mind. I don’t profess to be an expert on the mechanics of poetry so I can only share my overall feelings and thoughts on reading Shani Mootoo’s collection “Cane Fire”.
Mootoo uses potent words in her poems, but somehow fails to put them to any effective use, and often they require the use of a dictionary. It feels like uncommon words and unusual structures are being used to distract the reader from the fact that there is not much substance in the poems and that there is a lack of vivid imagery being conjured.
Some of the poems are printed over several pages, sometimes sparsely on a single page; this is probably intentional, but unfortunately it results in an awful lot of empty space in the book. It feels like padding.
Overall, having read the entire collection, I am left with a sense of confusion and jumble, and of poems which are too often too clever for their own good. These are personal verses, and I know there is quality poetry at the heart of this work, but it is swamped under so much extraneous and pretentious wordplay.
Mootoo uses potent words in her poems, but somehow fails to put them to any effective use, and often they require the use of a dictionary. It feels like uncommon words and unusual structures are being used to distract the reader from the fact that there is not much substance in the poems and that there is a lack of vivid imagery being conjured.
Some of the poems are printed over several pages, sometimes sparsely on a single page; this is probably intentional, but unfortunately it results in an awful lot of empty space in the book. It feels like padding.
Overall, having read the entire collection, I am left with a sense of confusion and jumble, and of poems which are too often too clever for their own good. These are personal verses, and I know there is quality poetry at the heart of this work, but it is swamped under so much extraneous and pretentious wordplay.
March 15, 2022
I really enjoyed the nostalgia, familiarity, and ways in which Mootoo used and tweaked form and structure to craft these poems. The inclusion of art and pictures was also compelling.
...
no matter how far
I'd roam
no matter how long from home
I am the girl
she didn't see
casting petals round her feet
...
excerpt from The Crick in the Crack
Structurally varied and complex, these poems invited my engagement in different ways, the change in flow and form were creative, new to me, yet kept me immersed. The ways in which Mootoo plays with style and expression may not appeal to every reader, but for me, I was swept up in the imagery, scents, and memories that were teased forth, that's the power of these poems. There is a familiarity that Mootoo creates as she traces the history, existence, community, love for family and within relationships.
The poems that stuck with me are the ones that recall the inquisitiveness and mischievousness of children, the depiction tion of intimate longing and devotion, the connection of and in communities, desire, and depths of relatedness and relationships.
I love the play on words, the meanings that they hold for and evoke in me as a Caribbean identity, the plants, land, drinks, behaviours, all just culminated in me sinking further into and rereading these poems. The inclusion of pieces of art and imagery spoke to the familial bond and influence, infusing colour and further meaning to this collection.
...
no matter how far
I'd roam
no matter how long from home
I am the girl
she didn't see
casting petals round her feet
...
excerpt from The Crick in the Crack
Structurally varied and complex, these poems invited my engagement in different ways, the change in flow and form were creative, new to me, yet kept me immersed. The ways in which Mootoo plays with style and expression may not appeal to every reader, but for me, I was swept up in the imagery, scents, and memories that were teased forth, that's the power of these poems. There is a familiarity that Mootoo creates as she traces the history, existence, community, love for family and within relationships.
The poems that stuck with me are the ones that recall the inquisitiveness and mischievousness of children, the depiction tion of intimate longing and devotion, the connection of and in communities, desire, and depths of relatedness and relationships.
I love the play on words, the meanings that they hold for and evoke in me as a Caribbean identity, the plants, land, drinks, behaviours, all just culminated in me sinking further into and rereading these poems. The inclusion of pieces of art and imagery spoke to the familial bond and influence, infusing colour and further meaning to this collection.
June 7, 2023
Thank you to 49th Shelf @49thShelf_Reads @49thShelf (“All Canadian Books”!), and the publisher Book hug Press @bookhugspress for a copy of Shani Mootoo’s 2022 book Cane | Fire: Poems.
This was an interesting read! Shani Mootoo is an award winning international writer of fiction & poetry and visual artist. Cane | Fire is an intimate, sometimes spicy, and thoughtful book of poetry. It doesn’t follow traditional poetic rules. The author’s own artwork is peppered throughout the book, making it even more personal, like a memoir. Major themes include Family and Self. It is divided into 3 sections, and moves back and forth between past, present, and place (Ireland, Trinidad, & Canada).
I recommend Cane Fire to other fans of poetry.
#CaneFire #ShaniMootoo #bookhugpress #49thShelf #CanadianBooks #goodreadschallenge2023
This was an interesting read! Shani Mootoo is an award winning international writer of fiction & poetry and visual artist. Cane | Fire is an intimate, sometimes spicy, and thoughtful book of poetry. It doesn’t follow traditional poetic rules. The author’s own artwork is peppered throughout the book, making it even more personal, like a memoir. Major themes include Family and Self. It is divided into 3 sections, and moves back and forth between past, present, and place (Ireland, Trinidad, & Canada).
I recommend Cane Fire to other fans of poetry.
#CaneFire #ShaniMootoo #bookhugpress #49thShelf #CanadianBooks #goodreadschallenge2023
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July 8, 2025Cross-posted from my blog where there's more information on where I got my copy and links and everything.
I just do not think poetry is for me. I keep wanting to be the type of person who likes poetry, but I’m just not. I read this for April’s FOLD challenge, and it was fine. I liked the art and photos included in the book – I would have liked to read more about the process of making the art and the meanings of each piece, honestly.
I also did like that the poems did, like, weird stuff. Like I had to turn the book upside down at some points, that kind of thing, and that was fun. I would say this could be a good one if you do like poetry, especially if you like dissecting poems? But I just don’t get much out of it.
I just do not think poetry is for me. I keep wanting to be the type of person who likes poetry, but I’m just not. I read this for April’s FOLD challenge, and it was fine. I liked the art and photos included in the book – I would have liked to read more about the process of making the art and the meanings of each piece, honestly.
I also did like that the poems did, like, weird stuff. Like I had to turn the book upside down at some points, that kind of thing, and that was fun. I would say this could be a good one if you do like poetry, especially if you like dissecting poems? But I just don’t get much out of it.
November 6, 2022
At times confusing, at times amazing. This was my first time reading any of Shani Mootoo's work and while I appreciated aspects of this book, I don't think I would immediately want to read her other works. Cane Fire is rich in certain aspects but disjointed and disconnected in other areas. That may just be the way of modern poetry, but I usually like to see a revolving theme(s). This collection of poems felt like it was all over the place and potentially could have benefited from the Parts being titled so that the reader could understand and appreciate the themes. However, the artwork throughout the book was a nice addition, and there were some really excellent poems in the book, just not enough, though.
August 30, 2022
What struck me most about this collection is Mootoo’s astonishing ability to refocus the everyday: her ability to hone in on often overlooked details—‘grey dust clinging to a strand of hair’ (from “Inventory”)—to immerse and position the reader intimately and sometimes, uncomfortably, within her poems.
Reading these pieces is like looking at a detail of a detail of a detail of a painting. I’m in awe and consider this book a masterclass in how the most unforgettable worlds can be built out of the smallest, most unassuming particulars.
Reading these pieces is like looking at a detail of a detail of a detail of a painting. I’m in awe and consider this book a masterclass in how the most unforgettable worlds can be built out of the smallest, most unassuming particulars.
June 5, 2022
Not what I expected, the places the poet had lived were hardly mentioned.
August 12, 2022
A mesmerizing poetic memoir
March 17, 2025
I appreciated the varied styles of poetry and layouts of poems making use of the entire page with intention.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews