Description
Book SynopsisThe Spirit Papers explores the magical thinking that precedes impending and inevitable loss, the taboo fantasia that occurs in the crippling timelessness of anticipation. Grieving for the future with a spiritual clarity characterized by ritual and doubt, Metzger’s lines are chameleons to every feeling. In the interminable window of expecting the unexpected, the poems ultimately materialize the very events they wish to ward off.
The Spirit Papers chases mortality with equal parts disbelief and love.
Trade Review“Elizabeth Metzger’s intelligence and originality are spiritual, earthy, and brave. unexpected, yet familiar, her poetry is dream- like, a gift.” — Jean valentine, author of
Shirt in Heaven“I’ve rarely come across a first book as unconditional, as exquisite, as captivating as this one is.” — Lucie Brock- Broido, author of
Stay, Illusion“
The Spirit Papers is a haunted book. Elizabeth Metzger’s striking poems, limber and torqued, conjure phantom presences and palpable absences.
The Spirit Papers, finally, and successfully, builds a world— a world built as much out of what’s found, as out of what resists being found.” — James Haug, Juniper Prize for Poetry judge and author of
Legend of the Recent Past
