By Evelyn Lau
Pineapple Express is rooted in the mind and its disorders. This collection explores moods, medications and side effects, capturing the flatness of depression while still making the language sing. It also probes the landscape of mid-life in all its manifestations: physical changes, psychological upheaval, the notion of becoming “invisible,” aging and loss, mortality, and the haunting of family and cultural history.
Pineapple Express is Evelyn Lau’s eighth collection of poetry and marks an important contribution to the literature on depression.
Praise for Evelyn Lau’s work:
“Lau is gifted with eloquent precision, able to convey entire experiences through single words and exquisitely crafted lines.”
— The Georgia Straight
“Evelyn Lau has a voice that knows. This voice has the experience of a life of extremes.”
— Today’s Book of Poetry
Evelyn Lau is a lifelong Vancouverite who has authored fourteen books, including nine volumes of poetry. Her memoir Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid (HarperCollins, 1989), published when she was eighteen, was made into a CBC movie starring Sandra Oh in her first major role. Evelyn’s prose books have been translated into a dozen languages; her poetry has received the Milton Acorn People’s Poet Award, the Pat Lowther Award for best book of poetry by a Canadian woman, and a National Magazine Award, as well as nominations for a BC Book Prize and the Governor-General’s Award. Her poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies, including the Best Canadian Poetry series. From 2011-2014, Evelyn served as Poet Laureate for the City of Vancouver.
