In her third full-length collection, acclaimed poet Angeline Schellenberg takes a “long, loving look at the real” (to borrow theologian Walter Burghardt’s phrase). With her ear formed by Ignatian spirituality, her body sensitized by neurodivergence and trauma, Schellenberg listens to the world with humour, reverence, and above all, empathy.
Weaving the sights and sounds we perceive with the questions we dare to ask, Mondegreen Riffs explores the intersection of sensation, meaning, and wonder. This groundbreaking collection intertwines three series: prose poetry on the social history of colour; poems impersonating musical instruments; and lyrical answers to odd online inquiries such as “If I eat myself, would I become twice as big or disappear completely?” Schellenberg invites us to embrace a holy uncertainty, and in doing so to “mishear the most beautiful things.”
“Delightfully muddles the synapses, joyfully rides the wavelengths of melody and the soundwaves of purest pigment.”
– Méira Cook
“Confident, playful and complex. Delightful wordplay and sumptuous language. These poems will make you fall in love with colour and sound and life itself.”
– Julie Paul, author of ‘Whiny Baby’
“Award-winning poet Angeline Schellenberg teaches a whole generation of poetry readers about the mysterious mondegreen.”
– Dave Margoshes, author of ‘A Simple Carpenter’
“Leaping, laughing, joyful, heartbreaking, witty, wise, thoughtful extrapolations that are non/answers. Mis/hears the world and re-imagines it into a melody that cannot be replicated. Trauma, joy, and the fragile space in between.”
– dee Hobsbawn-Smith, Saskatchewan’s 10th poet laureate
“The senses played like a scale.
Playfulness blooms.
A “majestic form of gentle” which cherishes all that is supposedly misconstrued.A solfèged fusion of tone-colours and emotions.
The most serious fun you’ll ever have.”
– Kevin Spenst, author of ‘A Bouquet Brought Back from Space’
“A delightful performance of synaesthesia, where colours and musical instruments turn into exuberantly creative wordplay. Along with the entertainment, we’re given the world’s deep interconnectedness to hold onto.”
– Alice Major, author of ‘Knife on Snow’
This book was made with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
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