Distributed for Autumn House Press
Ghost Man on Second
A debut poetry collection centered on strained family relationships and the search for new homes.
Erica Reid’s debut collection, Ghost Man on Second, traces a daughter’s search for her place in the world after estrangement from her parents. Reid writes, “It’s hard to feel at home unless I’m aching.” Growing from this sense of isolation, Reid’s poems create new homes in nature, in mythology, and in poetic forms—including sestinas, sonnets, and golden shovels—containers that create and hold new realizations and vantage points. Reid stands up to members of her family, asking for healing amid dissolving bonds. These poems move through emotional registers, embodying nostalgia, hurt, and hope. Throughout Ghost Man on Second, the poems portray Reid’s active grappling with home and confrontation with the ghosts she finds there.
Ghost Man on Second is the winner of the 2023 Donald Justice Poetry Prize, selected by Mark Jarman.
Erica Reid’s debut collection, Ghost Man on Second, traces a daughter’s search for her place in the world after estrangement from her parents. Reid writes, “It’s hard to feel at home unless I’m aching.” Growing from this sense of isolation, Reid’s poems create new homes in nature, in mythology, and in poetic forms—including sestinas, sonnets, and golden shovels—containers that create and hold new realizations and vantage points. Reid stands up to members of her family, asking for healing amid dissolving bonds. These poems move through emotional registers, embodying nostalgia, hurt, and hope. Throughout Ghost Man on Second, the poems portray Reid’s active grappling with home and confrontation with the ghosts she finds there.
Ghost Man on Second is the winner of the 2023 Donald Justice Poetry Prize, selected by Mark Jarman.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Disorder
Five-Story House
After Rain
Sestina Obbligato
Invitation
Duplex for the Noonday Demon
Shake a man, when you can, by his ribs.
Pelt
Why Is My Angel So Small?
The Letter My Father Never Wrote Me Turns Up in a Bag of Lost Mail from 1861
Links
Daguerreo
Father as Ghost or Sheep or Nothing
Wake-Up Call
The Earth Has Hiked Her Skirt
Shucking
Emily
Colorado Cottonwoods
portent
The National Register of Champion Trees
When I Say I Am Not a Morning Person
Deciduous
Nivôse
Preface
Owl
Hermitage
Spinnaker
The Pivot of the River Duck
North Shields Ponds
If Ever There Were a Time for a Long Title This Would Be It
My Womb as a Room on Airbnb
O For a Muse On Fire
Baubo
Smash Room
The Drive-In Movie
Strings
The Artificial Ceiling
My Grandmother Cannot Understand Why I Would Want to Hear Her Birth Story
The Getaway Car
Part of Me Hurtling Toward
Ghazal Flying Solo
Five-Story House
After Rain
Sestina Obbligato
Invitation
Duplex for the Noonday Demon
Shake a man, when you can, by his ribs.
Pelt
Why Is My Angel So Small?
The Letter My Father Never Wrote Me Turns Up in a Bag of Lost Mail from 1861
Links
Daguerreo
Father as Ghost or Sheep or Nothing
Wake-Up Call
The Earth Has Hiked Her Skirt
Shucking
Emily
Colorado Cottonwoods
portent
The National Register of Champion Trees
When I Say I Am Not a Morning Person
Deciduous
Nivôse
Preface
Owl
Hermitage
Spinnaker
The Pivot of the River Duck
North Shields Ponds
If Ever There Were a Time for a Long Title This Would Be It
My Womb as a Room on Airbnb
O For a Muse On Fire
Baubo
Smash Room
The Drive-In Movie
Strings
The Artificial Ceiling
My Grandmother Cannot Understand Why I Would Want to Hear Her Birth Story
The Getaway Car
Part of Me Hurtling Toward
Ghazal Flying Solo
Be the first to know
Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!