Speech Dries Here on the Tongue: Poetry on Environmental Collapse and Mental Health

Speech Dries Here on the Tongue is an anthology of poetry by Canadian authors exploring the relationship between environmental collapse and mental health. This threat of environmental collapse has brought with it a sense of impending annihilation and has contributed to the current mental health crisis, made crueller by a global pandemic that highlighted our fragile nature. These are poems by writers who have used their words to both articulate and navigate this crisis, unpacking the complex interplay between mental and environmental health in order to alert, inform, and inspire readers.

Rasiqra Revulva is a disabled queer femme writer, multi-media artist, editor, musician, and performer; developer and co-editor of the Hybrid/Experimental Section at The Ex-Puritan; and half of the experimental electronic duo The Databats (Slice Records). She has published three sold-out chapbooks of glitch-illustrated and/or augmented poetry: Cephalopography (words(on)pages, 2016), If You Forget the Whipped Cream, You?re No Good As A Woman (Gap Riot Press, 2018), and Sailor, C?est l?heure (The Blasted Tree, 2021). Her debut fell-length collection of poetry, Cephalopography 2.0 (Wolsak & Wynn, 2020), was long-listed for the 2021 Laurel Prize.

Amanda Shankland is a PhD Candidate in the department of political science at Carleton University with specializations in Comparative Politics and International Relations. She holds a Masters? degree in Public Policy and Administration and a BA hon. in Arts and Contemporary Studies, from Toronto Metropolitan University. Some of her areas of expertise include social ecology, environmental discourse, agriculture, and food politics. Shankland teaches courses at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. She is currently completing her dissertation and writes extensively on the social, cultural, and environmental consequences of our modern food system. She has written poetry and short stories since she was a youth growing up in beautiful British Colombia. Her creative works are often inspired by her passion for nature. Today, she lives on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe (in what is now known as Ottawa).