Paisley Rekdal’s "West: A Translation" (2023) and Cecily Nicholson’s "From the Poplars" (2014) offer exciting ways to re-think the poetic elegy and documentary poem. Both writers explore how violence results from struggles over the ownership of land. Rekdal reflects on the building of the transcontinental railroad across the United States during the nineteenth century, seeking to memorialize those who were exploited as part of its construction, particularly Chinese laborers. Nicholson focusses on the local, charting the history of Poplar Island, Qayqayt land in the Fraser River by the Canadian city of New Westminster.

In this talk, Dr. Munro considers how Rekdal and Nicholson use elegy to rematerialize the dead. Both poets draw attention to collective memories that are more inclusive and resist dominant narratives, including those which prioritize human over non-human experiences.