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Ghost Light
In Ghost Light, Eric Basso's fifth collection of poems, the sense of foreboding encountered in Catafalques becomes a prophecy fulfilled with the force of a hammer-blow. It is a book written in the shadow of three unexpected deaths, when the poet, dazed by grief, was for a time dangerously ill himself. A stillness moves among the darkest and most searing poems Basso has ever written.
169 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Eric Basso
22 books13 followersEric Basso was born in Baltimore in 1947. His work has appeared in Asylum Annual, Bakunin, Central Park, Chicago Review, Collages & Bricolages, Exquisite Corpse, Fiction International, and many other publications. His novel, Bartholomew Fair, is available from Asylum Arts. He is the author of twenty-one plays. His critically acclaimed drama trilogy, The Golem Triptych; the complete short plays, Enigmas; his play The Sabbatier Effect; a book of short fiction, The Beak Doctor; and five collections of poetry, Accidental Monsters, The Catwalk Watch, The Smoking Mirror, Catafalques, and Ghost Light, are available from Asylum Arts, along with Decompositions: Essays on Art & Literature 1973-1989 and Revagations: 1966-1974, the first volume of a book of dreams. Basso's most recent previous collection of poems, Earthworks, was published by Six Gallery Press in 2008.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 31, 2015
"Ghost Light" is a particularly affecting collection of poems for anyone who has genuinely experienced grief. Conveying a bit of Picasso's blue period in words, they are sparse and reminiscent of Joseph Payne Brennan with a little less ham.
"September"
the leaves fell
with the first wind
a stumbling where
the moon hit the earth
and the dead
taken before their time
came each night to haunt
the dreams of the living
they stood by the beds
of the ones the loved
watched over their sleep
for years till old age
made a September
of withered sleepers
whose faces even as
they dreamed of the dead
the dead no longer knew"
This is a stunning collection that is a bit like running through a forest made of blue ochre ice rings. Excellent.
"September"
the leaves fell
with the first wind
a stumbling where
the moon hit the earth
and the dead
taken before their time
came each night to haunt
the dreams of the living
they stood by the beds
of the ones the loved
watched over their sleep
for years till old age
made a September
of withered sleepers
whose faces even as
they dreamed of the dead
the dead no longer knew"
This is a stunning collection that is a bit like running through a forest made of blue ochre ice rings. Excellent.
Displaying 1 of 1 review