Geographies of the Dead: Elegies and Meditations

In revelatory verse in his haunting new collection, David Anthony Sam writes of a world steeped in mortality. The poems travel unflinchingly forth, from early perplexities over death to a stoic peace before the inscrutable. ＂I do not surrender / the solitary thought / to fantasies that believe themselves....＂ Yet, the poet’s deep empathy with what is both beautiful and in the process of dying saves us from devastating sadness.

-Sofia M. Starnes, Virginia Poet Laureate, Emerita and author of The Consequence of Moonlight

In Geographies of the Dead, David Anthony Sam offers a poignant and elegant depiction of the topography shaping our interrelationships with the dead. Geographiesis a brilliant collection of elegies to loved ones lost and meditations on how our interrelationships with the ghosts that haunt us shape both who we are and who we become as we draw nearer to death. The poems are powerfully written, eloquently crafted, and well worth thoughtful visitation.

-Steve Bucher, PhD, author of We Stay a Brief Telling

Within Geographies, David Anthony Sam invokes all seasons-as well as physics, medicine, memory, and nature herself-to share that which is for many the most private of emotions: grief. His words, both honeyed reminisce ＂of the time when all words / were untasted wine＂ and hard truth (＂all biographies / end with the same page＂) offer anecdotes and perspectives to lay at the altar of those who have gone before, acknowledging his intimacy with this shadowed landscape, surefootedly guiding us, Virgil-esque, from the sweet to the bitter and back again.

-Joanna Lee, author of Dissections and Poet Laureate, Richmond, Virginia

In Geographies of the Dead, David Anthony Sam shares elegies and meditations on death, loss, and grief from multiple perspectives of time and space. Sam instills in readers a yearning to hear more, see more, feel more from those we loved and lost, providing the geography for our own explorations, exposing dark and light in our journeys.

-Cathy Hailey, author of I’d Rather Be a HyacinthandNorthern Region VP of The Poetry Society of Virginia