{"product_id":"empties-neil-surkan-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\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0228027314\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780228027317\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e McGill-Queen's University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/17\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 104\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.30h x 4.60w x 0.40d","brand":"Neil Surkan","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48807914143999,"sku":"9780228027317","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/empties-neil-surkan-9780228027317","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}