katherena vermette has a new poetry collection out in fall 2025 — read an excerpt now

katherena vermette is back with her third poetry collection, procession.

In this book, she explores what it means to be at once a descendent and a future ancestor. procession is a grouping of frank and heartfelt poems that examines ancestral dreams, 1980s nostalgia, prairie life and how it changes as a child, parent and future elder.  

“For me, poetry is intensely personal,” said vermette in an email ot CBC Books. “It moves slow, and lives in and among all the other things.”

“These poems are inspired by many things, or maybe everything that’s happened since the last book, which was published in 2018 — lifetimes ago! Since then, I’ve said hello to new humans and goodbye to others. This is very much about the in-between.”

If you’re interested in poetry, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.

vermette is a Michif (Red River Métis) writer from Winnipeg. Her books include the novels real ones, The Break, The Strangers and The Circle, poetry collections North End Love Songs and river woman and the four-book graphic novel series A Girl Called Echo. 

North End Love Songs won the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry. The Break was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction. It was defended by Candy Palmater on Canada Reads 2017. The Strangers won the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and was longlisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize. real ones was also longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize.

vermette is also a senior editor at Simon & Schuster Canada. 

procession will be published on Sept. 30, 2025. You can read an excerpt below.

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grimoire 
 
before you were this 
you were 
the dream  
of a hundred martyrs 
you were 
a wish 
the sort that lingers 
under young girl whispers 
into young girl ears 
a spark in a loving eye  
prayer floating in wind 
 
you were as light  
as the seeds 
sprinkled about  
this wide red earth 
 
now you are 
a ridge 
brief plateau  
on the mountain of revolution 
one the ancestors  
looked up to  
and said 
one day 
your birth has taken  
centuries 
a labour that nearly killed  
them all 
you are 
now 
 
and you have  
so much magick in you 
stories that have waited  
lifetimes 
to be told

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Excerpted from procession by katherena wermette ©2025 katherena vermette. Published by House of Anansi Press.