The End Is in the Middle

Finalist, Nelson Ball Prize
Longlisted, Raymond Souster Award
Long-Shortlisted, ReLit Award (Poetry)

Daring in form and unflinching in its gaze, Daniel Scott Tysdal’ s latest poetry collection examines madness as lived experience and artistic method. Taking inspiration from Al Jaffee’ s illustrated fold-ins in MAD magazine, Tysdal explores living with mental illness through a new kind of poetry: the fold-in poem.

In this innovative collection, each poem does not end at the bottom of the page; instead, the reader is invited to complete the poem by folding the page to reveal the final line. From the effects of being “ smiled into an elephantine line” at Pearson International Airport to the rites of official memory and forgetting at a baseball game in the aftermath of tragedy, Tysdal probes both his own psyche and the myriad environments that work to enfold those who are deemed mad.

Daniel Scott Tysdal is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and teacher. He is the author of three poetry collections, including the ReLit Award-winning Predicting the Next Big Advertising Breakthrough Using a Potentially Dangerous Method and the widely acclaimed Fauxccasional Poems, as well as the poetry textbook The Writing Moment and the viral-trending TEDx talk “ Everything You Need to Write a Poem (and How It Can Save a Life).” Tysdal teaches at the University of Toronto Scarborough.