“GREATER GHOST” by Christian J. Collier (Four Way Books, 88 pages, $18).
Poet Christian Collier’s work has appeared in such publications as Hayden’s Ferry Review, North American Review, Poetry and Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts. His chapbook “The Gleaming of the Blade” was a 2021 Editors’ Selection from Bull City Press, and his poem “Intervention” won the 2022 Porch Prize for Poetry. “Greater Ghost,” his first full-length collection, takes readers on a journey through all the ways one might be haunted, all the various ghosts that might visit a person. In these poems, Collier focuses on loss and grieving while managing to infuse every poem with a pulsing, insistent life.
Collier lives and writes in Chattanooga. He spoke with Chapter 16 on a streetside patio in early October. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Christian, your name has been around our town for many years, so it is a pleasure to finally meet you, especially with the buzz around “Greater Ghost.” How does it feel to “debut” after writing, working, publishing for as long as you have?
A: It feels good! For me, in the last month before something gets published, something like a book project, it gets really weird. I feel all the things. And this time around, I’ve been taking a lot of inventory of my journey. There have been so many miles put on my vehicles going somewhere to jump in front of people and do poems, so much learning, and I am so grateful because it has taken literally all of that to reach the point now where I’m confident in the book. I think it’s pretty good.