Book

Arkorful, Faith, author.

The seventh town of ghosts : poems / Faith Arkorful.

Toronto, ON : McClelland & Stewart, 2024.

93 pages ; 22 cm

The Seventh Town of Ghosts reckons with hauntings and hauntedness. Each of the titular ghost towns are peopled by yesterdays both troubling and trellis-like, and the sojourns between these sister cities anchor the collection. Here, veracity is ever-present, guided from the ground up by Faith Arkorful's unerring insights on the pain and shuttered possibilities Black people endure as members of a perpetual (un)citizenry: here are the ravages of the state, the police, and other agents of injustice upon an uncle, a mother, a friend--upon the spirits and ancestors, memory and hope--upon body and soul. But here, too, is a witness and a war cry to answer back, speaking not only for, but with, those dead too soon.

Poetry.

Poetry.

Origin story -- I feel betrayal in every plum blossom -- Short lived -- Whom -- The seventh town of names -- Elegy for the drunken voice -- Quiet time -- I do not study you -- The seventh town of self-sacrifice -- XO tour Llif3 -- Vultures -- Vacation -- Confession -- A recipe in two acts -- Lewis Hamilton -- For my cousin, part two -- You get the days you get -- Pasta -- In the universe where I run everything -- Long Island medium -- Miracle baby -- For my splintered self -- Justin Trudeau dreams in blackface -- My mother explains to me what a zombie is (while explaining her job after a lifetime of minimum wage to her new co-worder on their first break of the day) -- Not sorry -- West End gothic -- Cops and apples -- The seventh town of hallelujahs -- Eulogy written on a cue card -- What's written on the back of the cue card -- Thieves -- Countdown to a new face -- No different -- What era would you travel to if you had a time machine? -- Family affair -- Remedy for when the doctor -- Lake of rage -- Ark (the first page, revisited) -- My mother knocks me back into reality -- Hyenas -- The seventh town of loveliness -- Heart of palm -- Endlessssssssss -- Migrant worker as temporary illusionist -- I've learned after falling in love the first time -- I wish I could be like my father -- Sisterhood food mathematics -- Bountiful -- Undoing -- The seventh town of nights -- Molosser -- Acrylics -- Dishcloth -- Oh god! -- The seventh town of quartz -- Sisterhood as light refractive -- Two lefts -- The seventh town of ghosts -- Bloodseed -- The flowers -- Gravenhurst -- Exorcism -- Planets -- Desire -- Linked -- Other lagoons -- This isn't the life.

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