![]() ![]() These are poems loyal to their own intrepid logic and reckless plausibility. "In Dexter Booth's Scratching the Ghost, a cracked egg means the universe is splitting, the slap of a double-dutch rope is a broken-throated hymn, and splitting a squealing hog is akin to lovemaking. Here too is a "Short Letter to the Twentieth Century" and, finally, a "Long Letter to the Twentieth Century," as if across this collection the poet is mustering up the force to speak back to history. Here are memories of love lost, family mourned, a father absent, ghosts of hometowns and childhood. Booth's ruminations on loss in this award-winning debut are rooted in a time past but one still palpable and persistent. ![]() You are complaining about the itch, the burn scratch the ghost of your calf and heel. Winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, selected by Major Jackson The stub of your left leg dangles as I hold you up, my hands inserted under your arms like a child. ![]()
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