Goose

Shortlisted for the 2026 Lansdowne Prize for PoetryWinner of the 2026 Alanna Bondar Memorial Book PrizePoems that retrace unconscious lines of thought and flight to write a new history of the tar sandsTracing words the way a tracker moves across land,Goose collects hand-copied details from Northland Trails, abook of self-illustrated short stories, poems, and essays about theAthabasca region authored by “father of the tar sands” S. C. Ells.At turns cheeky, sharp-witted, and grave, Melanie Dennis Unrau’spoems explore extraction and the relationship between humans, non-humans, and the land, resulting in an act of irreverent, deconstructiveliterary criticism.