I have to live Poems

A new collection ablaze with urgency and radiant inquiry from a 2015 finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry

A demand and promise; an obligation and challenge; a protest and call: I have to live.
Juiced on the ecstasy of self-belief: I have to live.
A burgeoning erotics of psychic boldness: I have to live.
In which sensitivity is recognized as wealth: I have to live.
Trumpeting the forensic authority of the heart: I have to live.
This is original ancient poetry.
It fashions a universe from its mouth.

AISHA SASHA JOHN is a poet, dancer, and choreographer. Her most recent collection, I have to live., was a finalist for the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her solo performance the aisha of is, which premiered at the Whitney Museum in 2017, will be presented at Toronto’s 2018 Summerworks Festival. In addition to her solo work, Aisha choreographed, performed, and curated as a member of the collective WIVES from 2015–2017. Aisha's other books include The Shining Material and THOU, which was a finalist for both the Trillium and Relit Book Awards. Aisha was the 2018 University of Toronto, Scarborough Writer-in-Residence. She was born in Montreal.