Ghosts of Past and Future

"Ghosts of Past and Future demonstrates Darrell Schweitzer's ability to astonish us with his range and depth as a poet. Those who encountered him first as an engaging satirist and parodist will rejoice in the emotional depth of this work, though they will also be edified by his flashes of macabre humor. Schweitzer's symphonic progress of poems begins with illuminating meditations on mortality and death. It then moves to splendid dramatic monologues informed by a sage's knowledge and an lover's empathy. The book's next movement expands into works of beautiful and intimate lyricism. It climaxes with a series of insights on the significance of death for humanity's and the reader's future. The book is more than a feast of death; it is an affirmation of human value and history. At the same time, Schweitzer has put the book together to carry the reader through as if reading a piece of gripping suspense fiction. An important and, above all, fascinating book." -Mary A. Turzillo, Nebula winning fiction writer and poet. "Darrell Schweitzer is an outstanding exponent of contemporary imaginative literature.... [He] has mastered a fine and very flexible kind of syllabic line, part free, part blank verse, achieving many definitive and memorable passages that haunt the shared corridors of our collective imagination." -Donald Sidney-Fryer, author of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean.