Testament

Book excerpt: Testament is the summation of Dennis Lee’s decade-long exploration of the dilemma of contemporary existence. Incorporating and rethinking the work published in Un and Yesno, and featuring many completely new poems, this startling collection reminds us anew of the catastrophic reality we have made of our planet, while simultaneously insisting on a particular kind of hope for our future. Testament continues Lee’s radical and inventive use of language, shaping the familiar into the shockingly new. It is a landmark achievement, and a fitting end to one of the most ambitious projects in Canadian poetry.