In A Nomenclature for Light, Josie Di Sciasio-Andrews’ eighth collection of poetry, she continues her exploration of the world around her. Di Sciasio-Andrews noted in a 2021 interview, that her poems are written, collected thematically, and then arranged carefully into a manuscript. Reading A Nomenclature for Light, one can see how this process continues. In this collection of individual poems, Di Sciasio-Andrews stands at the centre of each poem, observing the world around her. She opens a doorway into her thoughts and life experiences and invites us inside.
Perhaps a clue to the decision to place the poems one-after-the-other lies in the “nomenclature” of the title. As a system of naming, Di Sciascio-Andrews allows each poem’s title and verse to address the light. The continuous structure of the collection – all 101 pages of poems – runs unbroken from start to finish; and so “light” is the perfect underlying word to link the poems together in a coherent whole.
The first poem, the doorway into the collection …
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Mosaic Press, 2025
Kathryn MacDonald 