Ghosts Passing Through

by Janet Dale

Janet Dale's debut chapbook 'ghosts passing through' is haunted, yes, by the recursive presence of a speaker's lost beloved, their fate "always to be apart." But more than haunted, these poems are haunting--somehow spare and capacious, ethereal and incisive. Dale deftly merges physics with poetics in this elegant conceit, seeking a language that captures essence, until "not even words remain."

--Julie Marie Wade, author of 'Just an Ordinary Woman Breathing' and 'Skirted'

Genres: Poetry

31 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2022

About the author

Janet Dale is a writer, reader, and teacher, whose essays, stories, and poetry have been published in The Boiler, HAD, Pine Hills Review, Zone 3, and others. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and for inclusion in Best of the Net.

She holds an MFA in creative writing from Georgia College, and she earned her BA from the University of Memphis where she focused on creative and news-editorial writing.

She has worked as a registered pharmacy technician, reading teacher, blogged about sports for The Commercial Appeal, volunteered with VIDA (Women in the Literary Arts), and assisted with the Flannery O’Connor Review, Arts & Letters, Nightjar Review, and Wraparound South.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Janet’s work is mesmerizing, full of thoughts on love and loss and the ghosts left behind. I especially appreciate that this chapbook has a wide variety of forms, including my favorite, the sestina! Lovely work!

[Alexa Doran · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the same fun/disconcerting mode as Tori Amos's "Happy Phantom" this petite text packs a big philosophical punch. Through Dale's deft work with form and lyricism, it becomes shockingly clear: if one thing has tied cultures and time together, it is the seeking after ghosts. This specific seeking after, this desire for, finding the dead in space is brought to life by Dale. Dale teases us with a language all her own, part transaction, part transcendence. Grateful for this writer and the chance to shimmer through this world.

[Allison Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems are haunting memories you grasp for and miss but can never forget. Dale relates love, loss, and memory to science, physics, and outer space. Poems include Morse code and inspiration from Buzz Aldrin and Sylvia Plath, which gives you an idea of the diversity in this volume.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's my debut micro-chapbook, so I'm a bit biased, but come be haunted by the duality of:

2 form poems
2 odes
2 physics poems
2 moon poems
2 poems with sylvia plath parts

(spoiler: some of these overlap)