Episode 9: Christian J. Collier
Greater Ghost
Today’s guest on the show is Christian J. Collier, author of the new book of poems, Greater Ghost, hot off the press from Four Way Books. Christian’s work is new to me, too, and I’m so glad I’ve been introduced. This is a book full of smart, tough, and beautiful poems. Odes of mourning, odes of love. He’s a terrific reader of his poems too, so don’t wait to listen to this one!
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Prior to Greater Ghost, Collier published the chapbook The Gleaming of the Blade, the 2021 Editors’ Selection from Bull City Press. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poetry, December, and elsewhere. A 2015 Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellow, he is also the winner of the 2022 Porch Prize in Poetry and the 2020 ProForma Contest from Grist Journal.
Pick up a copy of Greater Ghost here and The Gleaming of the Blade here.
Read more about Christian J. Collier.
Some notes:
This week I’m headed to Kent State University in Ohio, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Wick Poetry Center! If aren’t aware of their work, please check it out. The center published a pair of chapbooks every year for several years, and I was one of the lucky beneficiaries of that effort in 2007. They continue to published a full-length poetry book every year in conjunction with Kent State University Press. The center has invited its authors back to celebrate along with headliners Jane Hirshfield, Adrian Matejka, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Pádraig Ó Tuama. If you’re in northeast Ohio, you can still register to attend the event.
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About your host: Jason Gray is the author of the poetry books Radiation King (Idaho Prize for Poetry) and Photographing Eden (Hollis Summers Prize), and his poems and reviews have appeared in Poetry, Kenyon Review, Southern Review, American Poetry Review, and Image. His career in publishing has brought him to the university presses of Ohio State and Wisconsin, and Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.
A note on the podcast title. I am an unabashed fan of The Simpsons, and in Season 8, Episode 9 “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer),” Marge attempts to stop Homer from going to the local chili cook-off, because, as she says, every time he does, he “get[s] drunk as a poet on payday.” And that has made me laugh for decades now.
I in no way endorse getting oneself overserved and behaving like a jackass, poetic or otherwise. And if you or anyone you know is struggling with alcohol, there are resources for you: Alcoholics Anonymous Al-Anon