Ghost Town Odes (Redbat Books Pacific Northwest Writers)

“In this rich and remarkably inclusive collection, Matt Schumacher renders forgotten towns un-forgotten. With vivid imagery and music, he re-members, he re-embodies them onto pages of a poetic atlas. Here, a grateful reader also discovers tales about saloons and cemeteries, Great Plains buffalo and a pot-bellied pig, wild huckleberries and the bits of wedding cake fed to a deer. In one of the book’s four sections, Schumacher offers epistolary persona poems that give a panoply of candid and often wrenching histories, laments, confessions, and revelations. The chronological and geographical scope of this collection is impressive. Ghost Town Odes holds an ambitious and admirable trove of poems.” —Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita and author of The Voluptuary and Understory   “When I started reading Matt Schumacher’s poems, I had no idea I’d be getting a lesson in Pacific Northwest history. But what a lesson! From the farcical gold mine at Bourne, Oregon, in the 1800s, to the native villages clustered along the Columbia riverbank before enormous dams built during the last century flooded Celilo Falls, Matt writes with great sensitivity and knowledge of his subjects. Vivid images fuel the imagination with a longing for what once was. Matt knows his history and his poems reflect his research. The collection goes superbly on: There are “The Deep Creek Yuan Gui Speak their Grievance,” “Ballad of a Basque Sheepherder,” and many more, all poignant and delightful, not just for those who appreciate well-written poetry, but also for those who want to learn more about the region’s colorful—and too often tragic—history.” —R. Gregory Nokes, author of Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon and Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory