Overview

The poems in The Ghost Owl Says Go Now focus on place, specifically the vast American landscape from California to Key West and points in between. Guided by the wandering spirit of Bashō, some of the travel poems in this collection are wistful; others reflect on harsh realities experienced under the spell of wanderlust. Along the way, there are encounters with a variety of people-neighbors, relatives, strangers-that might be described as instances of synchronicity: encounters that seemingly offer significance beyond the random. Still other poems take their cues from cultural manifestations of Americana: music, artwork, literature, film. In this collection of poems, Stephen Benz continues his probing explorations into the topographies of Americana.

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9781949540505

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"""Benz's poems travel by bus, car, and by way of the poet's thumb, one eye cocked to the litter of our lives, one ear cupped to the particular cadence of our own American tongue. If Benz tracks the rough-and-tumble of the American road, he finds there is also its mitigating music and sings that song."" -Stephen Haven, author of The Last Sacred Place in North America ""There is a maturity to the voice here, and a beautiful resonance to the words."" -Virgil Suarez, judge's citation for the 2022 Ron Rash Award in Poetry ""Stephen Benz's poems, rich in sense of place, take us on a compelling journey. Benz evokes the spirits of ancient poets, like Bashō, and draws connections to the contemporary road. His poems explore various crossroads and take us across the Great Divide, even as they deftly challenge physical and spiritual divides."" -Diane Thiel, author of Questions from Outer Space"

Author Information

Stephen Benz has published four books of creative nonfiction, including Topographies and Reading the Signs (both from EtruscanPress). He has also published a book of poems, Americana Motel (Main Street Rag Publishing Co.), along with essays in NewEngland Review, Creative Nonfiction, River Teeth, Boulevard, and Best American Travel Writing. He lives in Albuquerque, where heteaches at University of New Mexico.

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