Laisha Rosnau

Hungry poems for sobering histories

By: Gabrielle McLaren Though the premise of a poetry collection on Ukrainian-Canadian women sounds straightforward, Laisha Rosnau taps into a long, ugly, and complicated history that includes concentration camps, global waves of immigration, westward expansion, government abuse, urbanization, shifting conservatism, the patriarchy, and the sex trade. By the way, Our Familiar Hunger isn’t a particularly cheerful book.      This small pink book contains a litany of themes, but they all support a bigger message of community and resilience; Rosnau jumps not only from Ukraine to Canada, but also across generations of women. It’s a creative and mesmerizing way to…

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