{"product_id":"empties-9780228027317","title":"Empties","description":"\u003cp\u003eYes it is both river and sea \/ yes they mingle together here \/ yes one empties for the other \/ yes it tastes like tears \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a powerful interplay of striking descriptions with tender intimations, \u003ci\u003eEmpties\u003c\/i\u003e, Neil Surkan's third poetry collection, reckons with fatherhood in a depleted and collapsing environment: Is it possible to nurture new shoots while the fires close in? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFeelings of emptiness, acts of emptying, and physical empties coalesce in these vivid and timely poems. Through a queer lens, Surkan's speaker scrutinizes masculinity and fatherhood as he confronts the necessary emptiness that comes with becoming someone's ancestor. Arrays of drained and discarded entities - empty bottles, broken pots and cups - summon a world, husked and untenably extracted, that teeters toward collapse, but even those empty spaces are receptacles for fleeting moments of vulnerability and tenderness. At its core, \u003ci\u003eEmpties\u003c\/i\u003e explores the conditions of life on the verge of hopelessness. It finds, among shadows of doom and despair, unlikely but nonetheless inevitable reasons to hope. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese are poems that teach endurance \"in the face of all that won't \/ be saved\" while still finding much in the world \"to cherish \/ as it brinks.\" In direness, there is also awe: one mustn't forget, Surkan reminds us, that only empty bottles can sing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Neil Surkan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e McGill-Queen's University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/17\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e Hugh MacLennan Poetry\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 104\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780228027317","brand":"McGill-Queen's University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46717295886473,"sku":"9780228027317","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_6a2f8106-4399-4387-ba80-05c9ef7fae59.jpg?v=1778611683","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/empties-9780228027317","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}