to grow roots: a poetry chapbook, by salem paige

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

to grow roots is a collection of poems about the direction humanity is headed, and reflections on the connection between ourselves, as well as between our small-scale, personal woes and the larger-scale struggles faced by our species due to our disregard for Nature. This collection reflects on the author’s youthful eagerness to find connection, to form a found family, and to discover a sense of self through relationships with others. These concepts are explored in three parts:

I. then (yesterday) encompasses a nostalgic existentialism through reflections on the process of growing up in a world clearly headed toward its demise,

II. now (today) follows with a desire to find a place in the world and people with whom to connect despite the harsh conditions we find ourselves in,

III. then (tomorrow) brings a hopefulness for the future, finding reason in community, connection, and the interdependence between humanity and Nature.

This collection encourages the reader to connect with oneself, with others, and with the glorious earth beneath them — to make roots, to be human together, and to challenge ourselves to try something new and perhaps painful, because in the end, things will always turn out as they were meant to be.

salem paige (they/them) is a transgender poet and designer living on Algonquin Anishinaabe territory (so-called Ottawa, Ontario). They hold an Honours Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Communications and a microprogram in Professional Editing from the University of Ottawa. They work as a Social Media Designer for flo. literary magazine, as well as a Web Designer for Rebelle Zine. Their works revolve around the exploration of identity, technology, space, nature, and discomfort. In 2023 they were published as a Fresh Voice by the League of Canadian Poets, and have been previously shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and longlisted for the ROOM Poetry Prize. Their work can be found in their first collection of poetry, The Third Self (2023), as well as Antifragile zine, Ariel Chart literary magazine, Beyond Words magazine, BiPan magazine, corporeal magazine, STREETCAKE magazine, and many others. paige can be found at www.salempaige.com or as @corpseofapoet on instagram and twitter.