Spirits For Sale

Utterly unsettling words and images, culled and composed from the detritus of etsy.com. As one of the authors describes it: I recently discovered that certain folks buy and sell haunted and paranormal items on eBay. This intrigued me, so I began reading item descriptions in this category. It was a goldmine of oddity.I chose a concise poetic style (the tanka, 5/7/5/7/7 syllables) to distill the essence of the items providing the most background information. Most items required more than one tanka to tell the story. At about the same time I began this project, I met the acquaintance of the amazing Dutch artist, Marcel Herms. I knew his uniquely free and interpretive style would complement this subject matter. I asked him if he would be interested in reading the poems and processing them inside his dark, funhouse imagination. Marcel is game for anything and a true team player. His images elevate this weird poetic experiment to an artistic level neither could achieve alone.That’s what is hiding around the next page-creepy, concise paranormal poetry for a digital age, and digital attention spans, accompanied by mind-altering art. –Jordan TrethewayCreepy in the best sense of the word, these poems and images will stick to the back of your eyes and work their way inward.