“Michelle Poirier Brown’s first collection of poetry is accomplished and gripping. In her five-decade story, perceptions, denial, emotional embroilments and poignant tenderness are peeled back and examined. As the narrative builds, we encounter the sheer alchemical power of poetry. This is rare. You Might Be Sorry You Read This will change you.”
–Betsy Warland, Bloodroot: Tracing the Untelling of Motherloss
“‘One of the functions of poetry is to make you uncomfortable.’ This epigraph, by Pádraig Ó Tuama, begins Michelle Poirier Brown’s debut collection—a collection that intends, unapologetically, to discomfort the reader. With unflinching precision and the exactness of a fine poet’s eye, Poirier Brown challenges her readers to encounter not only her childhood trauma but, ultimately, the power of her self—her late-discovered Métis identity, her navigation of PTSD, her unwillingness to settle for less than the truth. In the final poem, “Self-Portrait of the Poet,” she concludes, “go ahead. look. / Look as long as you like.” Invitation or command, it’s a hard look Poirier Brown offers. It may make readers uncomfortable. But they won’t be sorry.”
—Laura Apol, author of A Fine Yellow Dust
CBC Books The Next Chapter Interview
The British Columbia Review Mary Ann Moor book review
Praise for You Might Be Sorry You Read This
“In her compelling debut collection, You Might Be Sorry You Read This, Michelle Poirier Brown pulls you into an intimate place of unflinching honesty. Brown’s poetic memoir confronts, explores and digests hard truths. There is no sitting quietly on the sidelines for the reader. Her book claims your engagement, especially in the second half. And as the speaker awakens to herself, the poems ring out with new confidence and resonance. I predict emphatically you will be grateful you read this.”
— Susan Alexander, author of Nothing You Can Carry
“Indeed, the content will make readers uncomfortable due to descriptions of the author’s childhood trauma and/or references to settler privilege and non-acknowledgment as such. Family members may be “sorry” to read long-held secrets revealed. Most important, Poirier Brown has put an end to silence….”
–Mary Ann Moore, The British Columbia Review
“This is a book that refuses secrets, that seeks to transform dark and unsettling experiences by confronting them with clarity and fury.”
–Melanie Brannagan Frederiksen, Winnipeg Free Press, July 23, 2022
“Honouring the complexities of Indigenous identity and the raw experiences of womanhood, mental illness, and queer selfhood, the poems in Michelle Poirier Brown’s You Might Be Sorry You Read This reveal how breaking silences and reconciling identity can refine anger into something both useful and beautiful.”
–49th Shelf, February 28, 2022
