Reckless by Andrea MacPherson

In this powerful new collection, Andrea MacPherson provides an unflinching commentary on what the female body wants and endures.

Visceral and candid, Reckless follows the complex trajectory of female identity in a world that consistently denies women their right to assert it. These poems tackle an array of urgent topics women face throughout their lives, including reproductive rights, the trials of motherhood, the pain of divorce, and sexual emancipation. Here, MacPherson unpacks the impossible weight of gendered expectations and strips back limiting definitions consistently thrust upon women.

Praise for Reckless

“Reckless pierces through the onerous layers society imposes on women to get to the beating heart of what it means to be a girl, a mother, a lover, a best friend. These poems are sharp and soft, intimate and expansive, showing us the breadth of womanhood in the smallest and biggest of moments, in the words we speak and the ones we keep hidden.” —Jen Sookfong Lee, author of The Hunger We Pass Down

“In Reckless, Andrea MacPherson runs her finger along the serrated edges of femininity. Drawing ‘words like blood,’ the poems probe the violence of inheritance—literary, sexual, historical—and masterfully conjure hard-won joy and camaraderie in its wake. The poet crafts a wild, resonant lyric that stitches together survival and pleasure, sewing up old wounds like embroidery.” —Adèle Barclay, author of Renaissance Normcore

“Reckless is a brash collection of poems which chooses not to care what the naysayers think. These are poems of witness, of testament, of prayer, even, for too many kinds of death, for living in the body of a woman in a world not built for her, for everyday heartaches too big and unwieldy to comprehend with anything but a poem. Campfire-confessional, Reckless spills all the T in a rush, more than we think we should hear, with such generosity and trust, MacPherson leaves us feeling special, like we’re the only bestie who was invited to listen.” —Michael V. Smith, author of Soundtrack: A Lyric Memoir

Press Coverage

34 works of Canadian poetry coming out in fall 2025 —CBC Books

Women You Won’t Forget: A Recommended Reading List by Andrea MacPherson —49th Shelf