Mornings with Dobie’s Ghost

Every year, two writers are chosen by the Texas Institute of Letters to live several months on J. Frank Dobie’s legendary Paisano Ranch, outside Austin, Texas. This fellowship has a 50 year history and many famous writers have written about their experiences there. This book describes a 2016 stay at Paisano Ranch. While sitting on the front porch in the dawn light of his first day at the ranch, the writer encounters Dobie’s ghost, who speaks to him for a few minutes before fading off into the haze. Over the next four months, the ghost makes morning visits to the writer thirty-five times, and the writer records the ghost’s words in the form of poems.