North End Love Songs

A self-described ?tuff grrl with two ffs? there is no doubt that after poet Katherena Vermette?s first collection of poetry i won?t ever learn, she will also be known as one ?tuff? poet. Chronicling several short lived affairs that follow the break-up of a long term relationship, i won?t ever learn, recounts a quest for love in all wrong places. In it poet Katherena Vermette pulls out all the stops with gritty stripped down lyrics about the kind of love doesn?t always talk nice, sometimes drinks way too much, smokes when it shouldn?t and winds up in bed with people it barely knows or trusts.

But i won?t ever learn is more than just a poetic road trip to the wrong side of love. Described by critics as having ?a complicated sense of beauty,? there is undeniable eloquence at work in Katherena Vermette?s poetry. These poems go way deeper than the usual explorations of loss and self discovery, grappling with the destructive social and cultural constructs that often keep women on the hunt for solace and stability outside of themselves instead of finding strength within.

Katherena Vermette is well known in Winnipeg for her spoken word and poetry performances. Her poems often feel like songs, sometimes country in tone, and sometimes dark, urban, and alternative. In i won?t ever learn readers will find a fierce honesty, and resonant clarity that is unique to this fresh, new voice.

the wolf

1.
i met this one right
on her path, in the woods
even, seemed innocent enough
a little convo, a bat of an eyelash, we agreed
to hook up later, down the way
all was right
or so it seemed
but ever notice
whether you take
the path of needles
or path of pins,
either way
you get scratched