Content Warning: This book contains themes of self-harm, emotional trauma, mental illness, and references to real-life deaths. Readers who are sensitive to these topics should proceed with care.
What does a Tuesday lunch with a ghost tell us about how love survives death? In this compact yet haunting poetry chapbook, LindaAnn LoSchiavo paints with grief, sketches with absence, and binds memory to poetic ritual.
These aren’t abstract ponderings. They are grounded in actual lives—some historical, some familial, some tragically well-known. Each poem opens like a case file but unfolds like a séance: personal, lyrical, and surprisingly tender. From the haunting memory of her cousin’s absence in “Tuesdays with the Ghost” to the legal and emotional unraveling in “Odyssey,” LoSchiavo’s poems don’t merely tell us what happened—they ask us to sit in the room with it.
Where Empathy Meets Journalism
The poems here are rooted in verifiable events. Real stories—like those of Rotana and Tala Farea, or Conrad Roy III—are not reimagined—they’re rehumanized. But LindaAnn doesn’t let facts flatten her style. Instead, she braids investigative precision with poetic flair.
She turns headlines into human chords:
- A Hawaiian shirt becomes a symbol of haunting memory.
- The duct-tape between two sisters becomes both tragedy and bond.
- The ghost of Jim Morrison offers commentary on fame’s seductive silence.
How often do poems quote Ukrainian proverbs, reference Homer’s Odyssey, and still feel modern? LoSchiavo’s work proves you don’t have to sensationalize sorrow to make it unforgettable.
The Literary Echo of Grief
There is a unique rhythm to mourning. Like water dripping in an empty sink. Like footsteps no longer accompanied. LoSchiavo captures this rhythm in both free verse and haibun (prose-poetry hybrid), anchoring pain in form.
Scientific studies tell us that storytelling helps the brain process trauma. These poems feel like that act of healing—slow, deliberate, layered. For readers, the benefit is a deepened emotional intelligence, a kind of “borrowed mourning” that awakens gratitude and quiet reflection.
A Path Through Darkness Without Glorification
The collection is bold enough to speak of loss without romanticizing it. There’s no glorified nihilism here. Rather, these pages echo philosopher Albert Camus’ argument: that despair is not just an individual experience but a confrontation with life’s meaning. But the book never dwells in despair for despair’s sake. It’s not a candle that flickers—it’s one that insists on staying lit, even when the wind howls.
Final Thoughts:
Is it a 5/5 book? Yes—but not for everyone. It earns 5 stars for emotional honesty, originality, linguistic elegance, and moral clarity. But it’s not meant to entertain—it’s meant to awaken.
Book World Front Award
This book is a winner of the Book World Front Award, an accolade that celebrates extraordinary literature from around the globe. It honors stories that bring universal themes to life and resonate across cultures. Aligned with our mission to explore the world through words, this award spotlights voices that inspire, connect, and showcase the power of global storytelling—where every story takes center stage.
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