Haunted Bones [Perfect Paperback]

Chris Tusa (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

In Haunted Bones, Chris Tusa probes uncharted waters with courage, with energy, stength and clarity of vision. 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, Connecticut Review

Haunted Bones is indeed haunted--by characters such as Botticelli's Venus--and by images of 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

About the Author

Chris Tusa is the author of Inventing an End and Sons of God. His work has appeared in Connecticut Review, Texas Review, Prairie Schooner, South Dakota Review, Spoon River, StorySouth, and other journals. Aside from teaching in the English Department at LSU, he acts as managing editor for Poetry Southeast.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana Literature Press; 1 edition (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945083157
• ISBN-13: 978-0945083153
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chris Tusa was born and raised in New Orleans. His work has appeared in Connecticut Review, Texas Review, Prairie Schooner, The New Delta Review, South Dakota Review, Southeast Review, Passages North, Spoon River, New York Quarterly, Louisiana Literature, Tar River, StorySouth, and others. He has studied under a number of notable writers, including Tim Gautreaux, Sidney Wade, and Debora Gregor. With the help of a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, he was able to complete his first chapbook of poetry, Inventing an End. His debut collection of poems, Haunted Bones, was published by Louisiana Literature Press in 2006. His debut novel, Dirty Little Angels, will be released by The University of West Alabama this April. He holds a B.A. in English, an M.A in English, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Florida. Aside from teaching in the English Department at LSU, he also acts as Managing Editor for Poetry Southeast.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Fan, August 4, 2006

By 

Jennifer Louviere (Baton Rouge, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Haunted Bones (Perfect Paperback)

Chris Tusa is a true artist, allowing us into the strongholds of what he sees as Haunted Bones. At times there are themes of Gothic, Realism and Dark Humor, we are never ok, plagued by what haunts us: facets of fear, cancer, Alzheimer's, betrayal, fantasy, sickness (inside and out), our personalized gifts from previous generations. This is poetry that Generations X and Y can relate to; waiting for a pill such as, Prozac that can numb what haunts our bones, "the way you dissolve on my tongue, like a peppermint, like a host- the way you bury my grief". In The Disappearing Act, Tusa recalls our nostalgia for innocence, in a trend of the broken family, he paints us memories like a photo album before dad (the magician) leaves the pictures, "...the final secret trick none of us knew tucked up his shiny tuxedo sleeve". On a lighter note, the poem Habit lets us reminisce about what we gave up along with smoking, "...the slow drag of conversation, the cold November evenings... fireflies blinking in the trees like thousands of lit cigarettes." What's haunting your mind, paralyzing parts of your life or your bones? Chris Tusa's poetry in Haunted Bones is a gem.

5.0 out of 5 stars Bone deep..., October 13, 2009

By 

Michael Dillon "The Teacher" (the Bluegrass) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Haunted Bones (Perfect Paperback)

In the flesh and the bones, reside our DNA, our sense memories, our basic, deepest, truest essence. The poets amongst us take that bone-deep awareness and sing word-songs that resonate through the marrow.

From the first readings, several of these poems took root in my memory, rolled through my own bones and now reside there with all the rest. At times, I had to put the book down, tears of empathy and sadness rising and blinding, scalding hot and tender, of course, at the time I was reading the poems aloud as I sat before a blazing fire in upon a back porch fireplace under a half-moon's silvery light!

The everyday fears and realities of life are brewed and transformed into poetry by some writers and that's exactly how this book of poems affected me: Personally, deeply, achingly, Chris Tulsa put into words so many feelings and realities that I am unable to do myself!