Dear Ghosts,

It is impossible to read Tess Gallagher’s poems without being drawn into their mesmerizing rhythms and convinced of the rightness of her intense yet unforced images. –Joyce Carol Oates

Time to put our arms around each other’s waists–my man,
my woman, my unapproachable dream.
–from Dear Ghosts,

In Dear Ghosts, –Tess Gallagher’s seventh collection, now in paperback– the ghosts of the past are conjured and communed with as part of the poet’s present day: the deceased beloved, the father long dead, the ailing mother, the victims of holocaust and war. With these spirits beside her, Gallagher confronts her own illness and mortality and celebrates new love and friendship in these spare lyrics and sprawling narratives, each punctuated by her feisty resilience and signature grace.