Exculpatory Lilies

2023 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry Finalist
2023 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalist
A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book
2022 Walcott Prize Shortlist

From the award-winning poet known for her bracing honesty and sharp yet compassionate gaze, here is a new collection of poems that explore life, marriage, addiction, death, and heart-wrenching grief.

If grief is the willingness to be claimed by a story bigger than ourselves, Susan Musgrave writes, “in that / tender wavering, I let grief in.” 

"Writing about grief or tragedy is tricky. Hard to meet it at a heart-level without being effusive; hard to meet it at a brain-level without being cold. Hard not to make it about ourselves. Hard to meet it at a visceral level because it can take… Keep Reading