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In Haunted Bones, Chris Tusa probes uncharted
waters with courage, with energy, strength and clarity
of vision. Microscoping the incorporeal, he holds a
magnifying glass up to the mind of a hypochondriac in
poems detailing fear of tumors, leukemia, bad weather
or the sky falling. Intense and compelling, Haunted
Bones is a vivid and hard edged collection. Chris Tusa’s
poems cannot be folded and sailed out into the night
because like a boomerang in the shape of “Satan’s
hipbone,” they return and linger in the recesses
of the mind.
--Vivian Shipley, author of When There
Is No Shore, Fair Haven, and How Many
Stones?
Haunted Bones is indeed haunted--by characters,
such as Mr. Potato Head, Botticelli's Venus, and a Voodoo
Priestess--and by images, such as a grandmother's teeth
staring from a bedside mason jar, or bones "rattling
like empty bottles of beer." The lucky reader who
finds this collection will be glad to carry the ghosts
of these poems into the tangerine-hued future.
--Beth Ann Fennelly, author of Open House
and Tender Hooks
Chris Tusa’s poetry is poetry on steroids. Though
it’s not for everybody, it’s just fine for
people who appreciate good poetry.
--Greg Langley, Baton
Rouge Advocate
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