Mountain Amnesia

by Gale Marie Thompson

90 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2023

About the author

Gale Marie Thompson is the author of Helen Or My Hunger (YesYes Books, 2020), Soldier On (Tupelo Press, 2015), and two chapbooks, including Expeditions to the Polar Seas (Sixth Finch, 2013). Raised in Georgia and South Carolina, Gale received a B.A. from the College of Charleston, an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Ph.D. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Georgia. Her work has appeared in Crazyhorse, American Poetry Review, BOAAT, Gulf Coast, Tin House Online, Guernica, jubilat, and Bennington Review, among others. She has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center and Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and has given workshops and craft talks for the Emily Dickinson Museum, O, Miami Foundation, Midwest Writing Center, and others. Gale is the founding editor of Jellyfish Poetry and has worked on the editorial teams of jubilat, Crazyhorse, Fairy Tale Review, Georgia Review, and Slope Editions. She lives in the mountains of North Georgia, where she directs the creative writing program at Young Harris College.

Reviews

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There is so much to learn here, / in this place where fire does / the kind of good violence we need it to.” (76)

As I read MOUNTAIN AMNESIA, there are many things I thought about, like: the miracle it is to heal yet healing still means carrying. How temporary our bodies & the damage they carry. How Thompson found a way to write past vulnerability. I thought often of how the poems embody the line I love from Louise Glück, "I speak because I am shattered."

I started reading this at the foot of Little Bald in February & feverishly finished this morning. Each poem is a lacuna, it's like Thompson is looking to fill the space with language.

Although this collection was written well before Florence + the Machine wrote Everybody Scream, that’s a companion album to listen to while reading.

[Jonathan Koven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing to technically criticize here. These are well-constructed poems, but they didn’t speak to me in any meaningful, personal way. I kept hoping to find myself in these pages, but with every new piece, there was an emotional distance I couldn’t seem to cross. Always disappointing when this happens; could have more to do with me than the author.

[Addisyn ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

maybe i’m biased, but this is absolutely a 5 star read. so so good, and i am blown away by the language, craft, talent, and time it took in creating this book. i can’t wait to read more from her 🫶🫶