{"product_id":"9781771871044","title":"Shift","description":"\u003cp\u003eThese poems are filled with awe and celebration, sadness, and ironic humour as Shepherd explores the themes of human relationships with the natural world including connection, alienation, and the negative impacts of human activity on nature; interspecies kinship – ecological as well as animistic and shamanic; and intersections of ecology and industry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShepherd uses numerous voices and perspectives, and such arrangements bring about a variety of moods. Whether his subjects are starlings or tamaracks, woodchucks or grizzly bears, the ever-present magic of nature guides not only the mode but directs each poem’s tone toward some unique perspective:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome spiders know the correct use of magic\u003cbr\u003eknots to tie a cluster of Oregon grape\u003cbr\u003einto one single dusty purple berry. If a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eblack bear swallows it under the right moon\u003cbr\u003ehe or she will become a powerful shaman,\u003cbr\u003eable to speak the languages of spiders.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut while there is a dominance of the natural world found in the poems, they also reflect the numerous meanings of the title: a shift of perspective or point of view, physically moving or shifting position, transforming or changing form or physical appearance, shifting gears while driving a vehicle, working the night shift, and so on. The book's title is also taken from the title of one specific poem in the collection that encapsulates some of these central ideas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiving and working on the land and bodily experiences of specific places also have their place in Shepherd’s poems. These portraits ensure a kind of visceral connection or memory to the poems as they invite reader comparisons to their own work experiences:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYour job is to take the cement –\u003cbr\u003egrey-green, ugly, utilitarian, dusty and not just dusty but\u003cbr\u003epoisonous, abrasive, blocky, sharp-edged, impossibly heavy\u003cbr\u003eand dangerous in slings from overheard lifts –\u003cbr\u003eand transform it into something else.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePull off the present disk,\u003cbr\u003efingers fat with heavy rubber gloves,\u003cbr\u003eand whack the grinder wheel’s Velcro pad\u003cbr\u003edown onto the next one waiting;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShift\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of poems that leave an indelible mark that we humans are interconnected and that we are intrinsically bound to the natural world. They are poems that champion the beauty and resilience of nature and remind us that we need to protect our relationships with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thistledown Press, Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49789457367280,"sku":"9781771871044","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781771871044","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}