The Apparitioners

by George Witte

"A genuine religious sensibility informs these poems, animated not by allegiance to doctrines, rituals, or commands, but rather by a sense of mystery.... If you read only one book of poems this year, make it this one." --Philadelphia Inquirer, Frank Wilson

"The Apparitioners is George Witte's first book of poetry, but you would never guess it from his confident, ironic style, which moves easily from colloquial speech-rhythms to rich natural description....Like a Frost of the suburbs, Mr. Witte regards the cozy, domesticated landscape he inhabits with an unsettling lucidity, which gives everything he sees the aspect of a parable or a warning....Anyone who has felt intimations of mortality in our American abundance will recognize the power of Mr. Witte's poems." --New York Sun, Adam Kirsch



The poems of The Apparitioners explore the boundaries between us and the world we have colonized, where we find ourselves unsettled by some mystery that cannot be owned. A father tries to calm his daughter, who is troubled by night visitors after a schoolmate is carried away. Having purchased his ideal home in a planned development, a man confronts past ghosts and his own doubts about belonging. And a woman nearly killed by stroke struggles to recover her place in her family and community, but finds welcome from a surprising host. Longer narratives alternate with lyrics that through close observation seek out the natural world, a presence that on occasion offers us a glimpse of purpose. Moving between poles of assurance and unease, secrecy and revelation, The Apparitioners is a noteworthy debut.

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

George Witte is the author of four books of poems: An Abundance of Caution, Does She Have a Name?, Deniability and The Apparitioners. His poems have been published in a range of journals including Consequence, Five Points, Nimrod, Revel, The New Criterion, The Yale Review, Think, and elsewhere, and anthologized in The Best American Poetry, Rabbit Ears (poems about television), The Doll Collection, (poems about dolls), and What the House Knows, (poems about houses, shelter, families, and secrets). He has received the Frederick Bock Award from Poetry magazine and a fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. He lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Reviews

[lifelike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reviewing this book in exchange for a free copy from Goodreads' giveaway program.

From the very first line – “There’s something to be said for sitting still and letting things come clear, the way morning fog burns off the lake.” – Witte pulled me in.

Many of his pieces have this really magical iambic flow. I am a sucker for sounds. This lyrical quality makes these pieces perfect to read aloud. Try saying this - taken from Porch Talk - out loud:

"That day gave way, each ledge of light 
eroding into sparks damp grass 
absorbed..."

This is a look at the mysterious natural world that “civilization” tries to obscure and control. He writes about everything from to jellyfish and wasps’ nests to surviving a stroke and the death of his child’s classmate. I like the nature poems - a snake, a catbird, some fish.

My favorite poem is Birch Grove, where he skewers the suburbs. "...TV's companionable,/ Its lullaby a rhyme of violence/ I channel surf to cleanse my guilty sense/ Of privilege, voyeur at a funeral."

The copy reads, “These poems explore the boundaries between us and the worlds we have colonized, where we find ourselves unsettled by some mystery that cannot be owned.” If that sounds like your jam, check out Thaw and Clipping an Obituary, both of which appear in The Apparitioners. If they're your style, I highly recommend checking out the book.

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

These poems didn't get their hooks into me until about half-way through the book, but after that there were plenty that dug in deep.

[Brent Legault · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I didn't make much of these poems. They didn't seem to have any teeth in their smiles, no lips in their frowns. But then, twenty or thirty pages into the book, something changed (either on the page or in my head) and they began to take shape. Perhaps the weight of each previous poem left its mark on the one that followed it, altering it ever so slightly. I don't know. But there is something here, something subtle, something made of soft shadows and the dust of old museums. But I'll be damned if I can tell you what it is.

[Abby Windsor · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I was very excited to received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway, I was not as excited to read it. The flow was a bit off for me. Maybe I'm not a poetry person. I skimmed and scanned through each reading and took little away. I am going to be trying to read this again in a year to see if I have a different perspective.