Blue thinks itself within me: Lyric poetry, ecology, and lichenous form

“Part autotheory, part activist manifesto, and part ode to the oldgrowth specklebelly lichen, this book about making poems in an age of ecological desperation is both heartbreaking and beautiful.

Blue thinks itself within me chronicles the poet Kim Trainor’s experiences as an activist at the Ada’itsx / Fairy Creek blockade to prevent logging of Vancouver Island old growth forests…”

Pre-orders: Blue thinks itself within me

Oskana Poetry and Poetics / University of Regina Press

Forthcoming February 2026

Paperback : 9781779401205, 344 pages, February 2026
Hardcover : 9781779401212, 344 pages, February 2026
Ebook (EPUB) : 9781779401229, 344 pages, February 2026
Ebook (PDF) : 9781779401236, 344 pages, February 2026

Reviews:

Blue thinks itself within me mesmerized me. This isn’t only a book of experimental poetics, it is an urgent call for ethical witnessing.”- Orchid Tierney, author of looking at the Tiny: Mad lichen on the surfaces of reading

“Powerfully delicate and precise. Kim Trainor excavates personal and political history and takes an approach to narrative that crafts research as poetry. I couldn’t put it down.”- Renée Sarojini Saklikar, author of children of air india