''Two-Headed Poems'' is the eighth book of poems by Canadian author

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

. It was first published in 1978. The title of the collection refers to its central cycle of poems, which concerns a pair of

Siamese twins Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence ...

as a metaphor for Canada. The twins dream of separation, and speak sometimes singly, sometimes together within the poems. The tension of their desire for separation and their inescapable connection evokes the French-English tensions in Canada and Quebec separatism. These tensions are also evoked in the image of two deaf singers, an image which implies that neither English-Canada nor Quebec listens to each other. However, the metaphors of ''Two-Headed Poems'' can also be interpreted on a more personal level to refer to the tensions between lovers.

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1978 poetry books Poetry by Margaret Atwood Canadian poetry collections Oxford University Press books {{poetry-collection-stub