Ghost Woman

"Crystal Simone Smith’s Ghost Woman is a stunning collection of fearless poems; an essential book of selected haiku and haibun by one of the most important American haiku poets to emerge during the past decade. If you want to learn haiku and its possibilities, then read Ghost Woman, because it depicts life as it is/was, including the ghost/s of slavery." - Lenard D. Moore, former president, Haiku Society of America and author of A Million Shadows at Noon

"Ghost Woman is a collection that is both personal and political, with words that become belts and hold our eyes a little tighter to the page. Crystal Simone Smith’s haibun escorts us across literary streets of loneliness. These are poems that glitter. Small pieces of starlight. They are sketches of remembrance." - E. Ethelbert Miller, Poet, teacher, literary activist, and winner of the PEN Oakland Award

"Ghost Woman, Crystal Simone Smith’s newest collection, is a breathtaking tour de force that bears witness to a 10-year haiku practice that evolves into a poetry of revelation. Childhood traumas unfold in evocative haibun. Starkly positioned haiku offer an adult’s understanding, imbued with grace. Ghost Woman’s narrative arc unfolds in five sections which mirror the five elements of Japanese Buddhism: earth (chi), water (sui), fire (ka), wind (fu), and void (ku). The 18 exquisitely crafted haibun and 66 stunning haiku will have readers returning to Ghost Woman again and again." - Roberta Beary, author of Crazy Bitches: Selected Haibun