Greater Ghost

by Christian J. Collier

In Christian Collier’s debut poetry collection, Greater Ghost, this extraordinary Black Southern poet precisely stitches the sutures of grief and gratitude together over our wounds. These pages move between elegies for private hauntings and public ones, the visceral bereavement of a miscarriage alongside the murder of a family member, and the specter of police brutality. With a profound awareness of literary tradition, Collier enters into the American canon and dialogues with Black Southern noir—a poem like “Beloved,” whose title expresses not only a genuine tenderness in its term of endearment but invokes Morrison, contextualizes this book within the legacy of racial injustice in the U.S., presenting again the prolific losses and disproportionate Black mortality across time, and yet remembers the resilience of love and transformative possibility of self-actualization from inside tragedy. 

 

Genres: Poetry

87 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2024

About the author

Christian J. Collier is a Black, Southern writer, arts organizer, and teaching artist who resides in Chattanooga, TN. He is the author of the chapbook The Gleaming of the Blade from Bull City Press. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in North American Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, The Michigan Quarterly Review, Atlanta Review, and elsewhere. A 2015 Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellow, he is also the winner of the 2020 ProForma Contest and the 2019-2020 Seven Hills Review Poetry Contest.

Reviews

[Heather Dent]

Heart-wrenching and beautiful poetry that grapples with with loss and death.

Here's an excerpt from my favorite poem "Leaving the Earth"

I'm not prepared for the doors to shut & lock.
I've so loved this sun-groomed globe,
each minute bit I've been served,
I fear letting go

[Erica Tuggle]

Poems that are heavy with loss but evoke strong imaginings and connection. The work is powerful and resonant.

[pianogal]

This one was kinda creepy. Sounds like the author has been through some hard times.

[Lisa]

I almost never read poetry. Collier is a local poet in Chattanooga and a friend was able to get several books of his poetry at a local writers event and gave me one. These are tragic poems about loss and love. The miscarriage of a very-hoped-for baby, the violent deaths of his friends and family, and the loss of elderly relatives are all there alongside his love for the woman in his life, and his questions about God and thoughts about how life after death works. I was touched and appreciate folks who support local art.

[Cynthia Young]

Just finished it. Read it as quickly as I could but I found myself doing a lot of meditating on amazing lines, images, and emotions. I know I missed a lot and need to go back.