Talking with Ghosts

The first collection of Victoria Bender's poetry, this is insurgent art. The first section, "Talking With Ghosts," includes poems that reflect on experiences or circumstances that have had a profound effect on her life. Perhaps you have had a similar experience; things we think of as personal are almost always universal, even when the reaction or resolution is different. The second section, "Not Walking with Whitman" takes a step back. It is more observational, reflective. These poems respond to occurrences in day to day life, the kind of things you think back on. You may not even know why, but for some reason they sit there in your memory, waiting for your visit. Last, "Chaos Theory," section three, is about the randomness of life from the quantum to the cosmic, creation to extinction, how things often happen to us not because of us. There is some comfort in the chaos, some ease in the acceptance of absurdity.