Podcast Summary: Lorne Daniel, "What Is Broken Binds Us" (New Books Network, Nov 3, 2025)
Main Theme / Purpose
This episode features an in-depth conversation between host Holly Gady and Canadian poet Lorne Daniel about his latest poetry collection, What Is Broken Binds Us (University of Calgary Press, 2025). The discussion probes the deeply personal origins of Daniel's poems, the ethics of writing about family trauma and addiction, stylistic choices in contemporary poetry, the experience of bodily disruption, and the broader human connections forged through writing about pain and resilience.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Origins of "What Is Broken Binds Us"
- Personal Foundations: Lorne Daniel explains that this collection began as a straightforward, factual recording of intensely personal experiences—family struggles, addiction, and bodily trauma.
- Quote: “This particular book did start with the very personal... a lot of the material started as sort of journal entries. And then I start to, you know, work with them...” (03:07)
- Journaling to Poetry: The process moved from “recording, journaling...just from a factual point of view” to crafting poems that sought meaning in those events.
2. Turning Journal Entries into Art
- Craft Advice: Daniel shares that shaping raw experience into poetry requires distilling meaning and universality from personal notes—editing for impact and seeking metaphor rather than direct autobiography.
- Quote: “You want to use writing to make sense of life, essentially, and say, what does this mean?... as a writer, I think you have to get to... the common human experiences.” (05:57)
- Universal Resonance: Readers frequently connect with his imagery even if their experiences differ, pointing to the power of metaphor and shared emotion.
3. Writing About Family and Ethics
- Parental Perspective & Boundaries: Daniel centers poems on the parent’s experience dealing with an adult child’s trauma, aware that telling his story is different from appropriating another’s.
- Quote: "We as parents sort of come to this realization. Our lives and his are not the same life... I was writing about the family experience, the parental experience." (09:42)
- Ethical Process: He anonymizes details, compresses incidents, and shared drafts with his son, respecting privacy and boundaries.
- Quote: “If he had ever read the manuscript and said, no, I really don't like this, then I would have reviewed and recalibrated everything.” (09:42)
- Right to Speak: Holly affirms that telling one’s own story—without presuming to explain others’ thoughts—is both important and ethical. (13:50)
4. The Difficulty of Letting Go
- Parental Grief & Acceptance: Both discuss the agonizing boundary between supporting versus enabling, and the necessity of allowing adult children to live their own lives, despite pain.
- Quote (Daniel): “We can't let his trauma become our trauma by totally internalizing it ... we have to step back here and his life is different than our life.” (15:05)
- Poem “We Step In”: This poem powerfully captures the tension and heartbreak of a parent witnessing a child’s ongoing struggles. (16:52–29:16, see quote below)
5. Simplicity and Depth in Poetic Style
- Style Choices: Daniel’s work is marked by clarity and directness. He cites poet Ada Limón as a key influence on keeping language accessible rather than florid.
- Quote: “There's always a choice as a poet between to what degree you want to ensure clarity... I always move towards clarity.” (21:54)
- Subtle Metaphor: While underlying metaphors (like tectonic plates) run through his poems, readers don’t need to decode them to feel the emotional impact.
6. Writing the Body: Trauma and Transformation
- Embodiment and Empathy: Daniel describes his journey after a catastrophic injury—its effect not just on his body but also his mind, and how writing helped him process these changes.
- Quote: “I had a fairly catastrophic accident ... and what really struck me was the disruption, but then also how it changes the thinking processes.” (32:34)
- Writing Purposefully about Pain: He avoids "trauma porn," instead sharing details only when they serve a deeper purpose of connection or understanding. (38:10)
7. On Disability and Understanding
- Awareness and Advocacy: Daniel touches on the revelations from his own, even temporary, disability—how the built environment is non-inclusive, and how writing can foster empathy for others.
- Quote: “You kind of think, well, we live in a somewhat accessible world. But no, not really ... the value of writing about some of these experiences is just seeing our world differently.” (39:03)
8. Future Projects
- Daniel is currently writing a manuscript focused on the history of western Alberta, examining how places create us as much as we shape places, considering both settler and Indigenous histories. (42:16)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On transforming the personal into universal:
“You want to use writing to make sense of life, essentially ... you see, I've got these anecdotes recorded here, but what can I take from them?”
— Lorne Daniel (03:07) -
On ethical storytelling:
“If he had ever read the manuscript and said, no, I really don't like this, then I would have reviewed and recalibrated everything.”
— Lorne Daniel (09:42) -
On familial distance and acceptance:
“We can't let his trauma become our trauma by totally internalizing it... that's a really tough step as a parent.”
— Lorne Daniel (15:05) -
On poetic style:
“There's always a choice as a poet between to what degree you want to ensure clarity. And... I always move towards clarity.”
— Lorne Daniel, referencing Ada Limón (21:54) -
Reading from “We Step In”: (Full excerpt, 26:52–29:16)
“We can no longer start from hope. We can only approach, sit in our responsibility and listen when he rants about landlords, employers, multifucking national corporations, the great forces that push him around. ... Soon he will sell his dead car for less than he owes, fly to the east coast where he knows no one, and over time, we will locate him. Go sit. Again. Listen, I don't want to go on.”
-
On disability and empathy:
“It was really profound awareness for me the first time that I went out in a wheelchair... realizing that a one and a half inch curb... is almost unsurmountable for a self powered wheelchair.”
— Lorne Daniel (39:03)
Important Segment Timestamps
- Book origins and process: 03:07–05:05
- Advice on craft - journal to poem: 05:05–08:30
- Ethics of writing family trauma: 09:42–13:50
- Letting go as a parent / poem context: 15:05–17:57
- Stylistic discussion: clarity in poetry: 21:54–25:04
- Daniel reads "We Step In": 26:52–29:16
- Meaning of the title & book cover (kintsugi): 29:39–31:25
- Writing the body: trauma, medication, empathy: 32:34–39:03
- Reflections on disability & access: 39:03–41:02
- Current projects (Alberta history): 42:16–43:37
Episode Tone & Takeaways
The conversation is empathetic, candid, and deeply thoughtful—grounded in the specifics of Daniel’s life, yet always circling back to the ways brokenness connects people. The mood is calm and reflective, reinforcing the importance of clarity, ethical responsibility, and poetic restraint. Daniel’s work (and his way of discussing it) models how poetry can both bear witness to trauma and offer comfort or connection to others, “binding” us even through what is broken.