Ghost Dogs

Ghost Dogs, Dion O’Reilly’s fine first poetry collection, will haunt you the way art should. Bristling with pain, wit, desire, and tenderness, these poems investigate not only "the daily harms" of an abusive childhood, but the deep solace non-human animals can offer. In vivid, sensual detail, O’Reilly conjures her companions: mastiffs with "sad, sagging faces," a beloved chestnut mare’s "glowing coat," a green parrot who has managed to "fill a space in the chaos." She doesn’t sugarcoat or flinch from suffering—her own or others’—she transforms it. Line by crackling line, image by unforgettable image. Contemplating her bruised knees in the poem "Given," she asks, "Is there a way to make it wonderful?" Ghost Dogs provides us an answer, a resounding yes. —Ellen Bass

About the author

Dion O'Reilly is the author of Ghost Dogs (2020). Her poems and essays have appeared in Rattle, The Sun, American Journal of Poetry, Cincinnati Review, Narrative, The New Ohio Review, The Massachusetts Review, and New Letters. She splits her time between a ranch in California's Santa Cruz Mountains and her residence in Bellingham, Washington.

Product details

• Authors: Dion O'Reilly
• Assisted by: Lockward Diane (Editor)
• Publisher: Terrapin Books
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 29.02.2020
• Subject: Fiction > Poetry, drama
• EAN: 9781947896239
• ISBN: 978-1-947896-23-9
• Pages: 106
• Dimensions (packing): 15.2 x 22.9 x 0.6 cm
• Weight (packing): 167 g