Ghost Sign: Poems from White Buffalo

by Al Ortolani, Melissa Fite Johnson, Adam Jameson

In the 1920s and 1930s, Pittsburg, KS was a major coal-mining town, attracting various ethnic groups from southeast Europe and beyond. The often belligerent and divisive spirit of the miners--and the unpredictable politics of Southeast Kansas--earned the region the nickname, "The Little Balkans." The four poets (Al Ortolani, Melissa Fite Johnson, Adam Jameson, JT Knoll) appearing in this collection carry forward that same proud, independent spirit. They call themselves White Buffalo, after a now-defunct cafE in Pittsburg that offered writers, poets, artists, musicians, and friends a place of warmth and community, which in turn fostered an environment of challenge and diversity.

Ghost Sign epitomizes honest work that is both lyrical and painful while simultaneously joyous and sad. It is rooted in folklore and mystery, and its place is informed by powerful imagery: sunlight on the crater of a strip pit, the shadow of an owl at Camp 50, junkyard mechanics, railroad men, and a grandfather at a piano plunking out Methodist hymns. With craft and passion, the Ghost Sign poets, who each know how to remember, resurrect those indomitable, lost places, folks, and ghosts from the forgotten past of Southeast Kansas.

Published in partnership with Spartan Press.

210 pages, Paperback

Published October 11, 2016

Reviews

[Alarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, at almost 200 pages, is four poetry collections in one, with an engaging introduction by poet Jo McDougall. "White Buffalo" is the name of a former venue for poets, artists, and musicians in Pittsburg, Kansas. In homage, these four writers call themselves White Buffalo. The collection is very much about place: southeastern Kansas; but, of course, where we grow up shapes us as people, too.

There’s no way I can be objective in my review, so instead of reviewing the works of all four authors, I’m going to share a few favorite passages from the two who have been among my favorite poets for some time: Al and Melissa.

Al Ortolani’s section is titled “Vienna Sausage.” Few poets entertain me so well with just their titles. Take “Polio Turtle.” Don’t you want to read that to see what he means? “Bonnie the Clover Lady” gripped me because my mother shared the same gift:

“The clover lady had the knack like few do
for seeing the ripple of four in an ocean of three.
As kids, we figured that it was a talent
coming with age, this gift
for side-stepping disappointments.”

For us city lovers, there’s not a whole lot to do around Pittsburg, KS except to use your imagination and make your own fun. In “Cemetery as Dog Park,” he remembers meeting there on cold, gray days with childhood friends and “one dog or another panting at our feet.” He observes

“…Fifty
years is a long time for boys, an impossibility
for dogs, a big nothing for the sun.”

Al Ortolani was Melissa Fite Johnson’s English teacher many years ago. Is it a coincidence that she also became an English teacher and poet? I think not. Her section is titled “Backyard Universe”: an apt title for poems in which she looks around her, chiefly writing from personal experience in a charmingly honest and vulnerable way. She writes of parents, grandparents, and her wedding. Her poems often take place in her kitchen, where her husband, Marc, is the chef, or out in the yard with her chickens.

Following “Apologia for Not Wanting Children,” she shows sympathy for one of her hens with a different view. In “Broody” she introduces a hen determined to roost on her nest to hatch unfertilized eggs, saying

“but I’ll support her choice,
ask a neighbor for a fertilized dozen,
help lift my determined hen’s body
up and over them, do what I can
for her to become a mother.”

My favorite of Johnson’s collection is “A Postcard to My Husband in Kansas,” in which she reads between the chirpy lines mailed from a California beach. Stanza two begins

“I write ‘Miss you both!’
the exclamation point light and airy
instead of ‘My heart breaks
being away from the dog. Is he
on hunger strike because I’m away?
Does he think I’ve died?...’ ”

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book of poems.

[SLT · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love poetry and I love a local collection. We share a perspective, a common frame of reference, warm familiar images. A community. Good poems.