What Shade of Brown?

What Shade of Brown?
by John Brady McDonald
Published by Radiant Press
Review by Toby A. Welch  
$20.00 ISBN 9781998926282

What Shade of Brown? is what I call a ‘pocket book’ as it’s small enough to tuck into your bag or pocket. It’s seventy-eight pages long so it’s not very thick. But wow, does it ever pack a punch! 

This book of poetry is made up of thirty-five poems. Each and every one of them is dynamic. The poems delve into the struggles McDonald has lived through as a light skinned person who toggles between two groups; undermined by the settler-colonial society and not accepted as an Indigenous person in lands that feel strange to him. The poems are unforgettable – readers are immersed in the struggles that are McDonald’s reality.

The poems cover a wide range of topics from mourning a misspent youth, the joys of rain, admitting you drink too much coffee, the early days of Covid, struggles with insomnia, concepts of race, and dozens more. I especially enjoyed the poems that are nature focused as I strongly believe, like McDonald does, that nature is an impressive beast.

It’s hard for me to pick a favourite poem – that’s like asking which of my kids I love the most – but if had to choose, The Windows Rattle wins by a smidge. It talks about how the writer is looking out of a Saskatoon hotel window at one a.m. One of the things in his view is a river. The poem delves into how he can’t look at the water and see it as “just a river.” After all, his uncle died in the exact river years ago when he was a child. Powerful stuff! 

McDonald is even more interesting than his amazing poems. Born and raised in Prince Albert, the Nehiyawak-Métis creative genius is from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and the Mistawasis Nehiyawak. His writings and artwork are known around the world and have won numerous awards. He is an acclaimed public speaker, presenting in venues across the globe. McDonald is one of the founding members of the Prince Albert Lowbrow art movement and served as Vice President of the Indigenous Peoples Artists Collective for nearly a decade. He also served as a Senator with the Indigenous Council Committee of CUPE Saskatchewan. McDonald’s resume is lengthy but I was extra impressed that while studying at the University of Cambridge in July 2000, he made international headlines by symbolically ‘discovering’ and ‘claiming’ England for the First Peoples of the Americas. McDonald truly does it all from where he resides in Northern Saskatchewan.

The next time you have a hankering for inspiring poetry, pick up a copy of What Shade of Brown? It’s a book you will glean a new insight from every time you crack it open. 

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM