"Kris Johnson's Ghost River is a book full of water – from the beautiful and dangerous lakes from the landscape of childhood to the waterways mapped by George Vancouver in the late 1700s. Mapping – of space, place and connection – is abundant in these poems, which explore family history, birth and motherhood with extraordinary and tender precision of language. The natural world rises through Johnson's writing, both in real manifestations and as metaphor, and the landscape of the Pacific Northwest forms the backbone of this collection, which is both wonderful and full of wonder." – Hannah Lowe, author of The Kids (Costa Book of the Year 2021)

‘This is centred on the landscape of America’s Pacific Northwest, but it is no rural idyll: ruggedly beautiful, steeped in myth and mystery, but also dark and dangerous… Impossible to do this rich and complex collection justice in a short review: it will reward frequent rereading and group discussion.’ – Frank Startup, The School Librarian

'This debut collection is steeped in deep ecology and a fascination for the land that exists beneath naming and mapping ... These are musical, lyrical poems that evoke the majesty of landscape, the depth and power of water and invite us to stop, and look again.' - Mary Mulholland, The Alchemy Spoon

‘I loved Ghost River by Kris Johnson and especially admired its deft delivery of tricky themes with sharpness, lightness and nuance. As the title suggests, water is a central image in the collection, and one Johnson manages to refresh in various ways – alongside the ghostly legacies of familial grief, colonial and ecological traumas […] It’s a great achievement to weave these themes so artfully and readably through a collection which has so much beautiful writing in it. If you’re interested in complex, layered, exquisitely crafted ecopoetry, then read this book.’ – Caleb Parkin, Under the Radar

Kris Johnson is from America’s Washington state but has lived in the UK since 2007. She received her MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Newcastle University where she has also taught and worked as a researcher. In 2019, she was awarded a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England. Her poems have been published in journals and anthologies, including Ambit, Hallelujah for 50ft Women (Bloodaxe Books, 2015), Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Northwest, and Poetry London. Her debut pamphlet, Skinny Dip, was published in 2022 by Enchiridion.

    11     Bodies of Water
    13     Rainier   
    14     Lake Americana
    15     Yellow Jackets
    16     Skinny Dip
    17     The Desiccation
    19     What I meant when I said goodnight
    20     The Doe
    22     He Is Risen
    23     Nisqually Delta Blue
    24     Ghost River
    27     Blue

    PASSAGE
    35     Theoretical Geographers
    36     V is for Vancouver
    37     The principled process of deduction
    38     Church
    39     Vancouver, dreaming
    40     Pseudotsuga menziesii
    41     Kulshan
    42     Rainier
    43     Having considered with impartiality the excellencies & deficiencies of the land
    44     The burial rituals of the inhabitants
    45     In the name of, and for, His Britannic Majesty, His Heirs and successors
    46     Your America
    47     Passage
    48     The death of George Vancouver
    49     I dream I am held
    50     Indivisible
    51     In the Discovery sloop of war
    52     George Vancouver, you are not my father

    55     Myth
    56     We Have Kissed the Four-legged Gods Goodnight
    57     Lunar Distances
    59     Corona
    60     Cottonwood
    61     The Time of Lace
    62     American Mustard
    63     Cast of an Irish Deer
    64     None of us is where we ought to be
    65     As ash falls on my mother’s garden
    66     What you hold
    67     Tectonics
    68     Tahoma
    69     Northwest Passage
    71    Gather

    72    Notes