Mercy
Expanding breathlessly in the magnitude of loss, Mercy confronts despair to emerge anew with a bright offering of elegy. Beginning at her mother’s hospital bed, Camia invites readers to keep vigil while she journeys through seasons of bereavement. Ethereal and elegant, Camia’s reflections are grounded in grief as they do the aching work of mourning and moving forward.
About the Artist
Shirley Camia is an award-winning Filipina-Canadian poet, and the author of four books of poetry. Her most recent collection, Mercy, a finalist at the High Plains Book Awards in 2020, chronicles her journey through grief and bereavement after the death of her mother. The book’s poignant title poem, “Novena”—an ancient ritual of nine days of prayer that begin the night of a person’s death—is written in Camia’s spare poetic style, with strings of short, abrupt thoughts and vivid imagery. “Novena” was also made into a poetry animation film that has been screened at festivals in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Greece, and the US. Camia is a founding member of Pluma, a collective of Filipinx-Canadian writers whose work spans genres and generations. Born in Winnipeg, she has lived across Canada, the Philippines, Japan, and Kenya. Camia currently divides her time between Toronto, Canada and Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Cadence Casual [online]
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