Ghost Voices

Thank you to Northwestern Unity Press and to Netgalley for allowing me to read this advance e-arc copy poetry collection in exchange for an honest review. This will be available for purchase on December 15th, 2018 for everyone.

To me this poetry becomes more like a chanting and maybe that is what is meant by the subtitle
“ A poem in prayer.” It discusses slaves, in death, trying to find “ IT” meaning freedom. They go from location to location, one after another, people breaking off each time when they believe they found what they’ve been looking for, while others are desperately following their loved ones who are still alive —the ghosts not knowing where to go.

The narrator asks a very important question, “ where does breath go after flesh falls away from bone, does it remember?” Well, the answer is yes, it does, breath is reborn into those who are alive now and have freedom now, through storytelling and ancestors they feel the pain, grieve for the losses, struggle with the answer to why anyone would put others through such hell. The “ old selves” are gone and reborn into a new light. A life where people like Beyoncé, Kanye, Macy Gray; Rihanna thrive. But boy oh boy did that come with a cost.

Slavery is a hard-hitting subject to read about, so I certainly can’t imagine writing about it let alone living through this time period. It is hard for me to put a rating on any book when the topic deals with lives that have been lost. Judging solely based on the poetry itself I give this a 4 stars, my only complaint would be that it does become a bit monotonous at times using the same words over and over, just as it would if I were listening to a song.

I think this is a collection that anyone can, and everyone should read.

The first poem begins with the beauty of repetition, the chant “we are crossing” fills the poem with the flow of movement, the reminder of this pattern of crossing over and over, the beauty of sound contrasting the jarring nature of history.

As this collection progresses, the chanting repetition continues, morphing into different phrases as the timeline of ghosts pushes their histories and memories and struggles and influences forward.

At times the density of the language overshadowed the meaning and at other times the long, roughly flowing lists broke the rhythm, but those are minor complaints.

I’ve always enjoyed the rich imagery and the dense and mysterious paintings that Troupe’s poetry colors in my mind’s eye as I read. I enjoyed it all right up to the end.