What do you think?
Rate this book
Ghost Sick
When a Christmas Eve shooting devastated Pohl-Weary’s community, she began to hunt through the numbness and grief for some understanding and hopefulness about the future.
In the tradition of Carolyn Forché, Ernesto Cardenal and Shu Ting, Ghost Sick is a poetry of witness. It chronicles the impact of violence on an inner-city Toronto neighbourhood, the power of empathy, and the resilience of the human spirit.
“A hard, sad, and beautifully necessary collection of poems. A book that helps us claw our way back from the edges of our own teetering lives. —Susan Musgrave, author of Cargo of Orchids
“Ghost Sick focuses on violence and its personal cost in a Toronto neighborhood, starting from the writer’s childhood to the present, the wasted lives, the pain and loss of her own and those of people dear to her. —Marge Piercy, New York Times bestselling author of Gone to Soldiers
“These are not easy poems to forget, so take a deep breath, and plunge right in. The world will not look the same when you re-emerge. but the rewards are immense: you come away from these poems open to possibility, hopeful for change, and knowing you are not alone in that struggle.”—Carolyn Smart, author of Hooked
In the tradition of Carolyn Forché, Ernesto Cardenal and Shu Ting, Ghost Sick is a poetry of witness. It chronicles the impact of violence on an inner-city Toronto neighbourhood, the power of empathy, and the resilience of the human spirit.
“A hard, sad, and beautifully necessary collection of poems. A book that helps us claw our way back from the edges of our own teetering lives. —Susan Musgrave, author of Cargo of Orchids
“Ghost Sick focuses on violence and its personal cost in a Toronto neighborhood, starting from the writer’s childhood to the present, the wasted lives, the pain and loss of her own and those of people dear to her. —Marge Piercy, New York Times bestselling author of Gone to Soldiers
“These are not easy poems to forget, so take a deep breath, and plunge right in. The world will not look the same when you re-emerge. but the rewards are immense: you come away from these poems open to possibility, hopeful for change, and knowing you are not alone in that struggle.”—Carolyn Smart, author of Hooked
150 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2015
21 people want to read
About the author
Emily Pohl-Weary
16 books72 followersAward-winning author Emily Pohl-Weary's latest novel is How to Be Found (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023).
She has published seven previous books. Her poetry collection, Ghost Sick: A Poetry of Witness, won the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. And her biography, Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, won a Hugo Award and was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award.
Her 2022 audio play The Witch’s Circle, a retelling of a Baba Yaga folktale, can be streamed at theotherpath.ca/listen
Emily holds a PhD in Adult Education and Community Development from the University of Toronto (OISE) and teaches at the UBC School of Creative Writing in Vancouver, Canada.
She has published seven previous books. Her poetry collection, Ghost Sick: A Poetry of Witness, won the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. And her biography, Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, won a Hugo Award and was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award.
Her 2022 audio play The Witch’s Circle, a retelling of a Baba Yaga folktale, can be streamed at theotherpath.ca/listen
Emily holds a PhD in Adult Education and Community Development from the University of Toronto (OISE) and teaches at the UBC School of Creative Writing in Vancouver, Canada.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 28, 2016
I had the unexpected pleasure of chatting with the lovely Ms. Pohl-Weary at a poets' group, which prompted me to immediately purchase Ghost Sick and attempt to enrol in her class at Dalhousie University.
Do not let the small size of this book fool you- the weight it carries is astonishing. The poems revolve around a Christmas Eve shooting in Pohl-Weary's Toronto neighbourhood, and by depicting her community from the time she was a child to the present; one lives through this experience: sharing the grief, empathy, resilience, and violence that rippled through a city.
Ghost Sick is simultaneously beautiful and painful.
Do not let the small size of this book fool you- the weight it carries is astonishing. The poems revolve around a Christmas Eve shooting in Pohl-Weary's Toronto neighbourhood, and by depicting her community from the time she was a child to the present; one lives through this experience: sharing the grief, empathy, resilience, and violence that rippled through a city.
Ghost Sick is simultaneously beautiful and painful.
September 2, 2015
Intense. I enjoyed it.
July 20, 2017
A wonderful collection.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews