“Trees wrapped in orange smog
will thunder and fall like gods.
Somewhere, a grandmother lights a joss stick,
prays for the protection of ghosts.”
—from”Typhoon in Xiamen”

Natalie Linh Bolderston’s The Protection of Ghosts presents a phenomenal, haunting collection of poems considering family, culture, trauma, grief, and so much more. These poems take the reader through generations and geographies a lens that feels deeply personal; the reader becomes a fly on the walls as these families are presented and personified.

The Protection of Ghosts haunts through the years: from mother to daughter to daughter. Together, the speaker and reader bear witness to the past—and its impact on the present. Its imagery is stunning, and strongest in tastes and touch: fruit and blood, skin and fingertips. Reading this chapbook takes the reader through nightmares and dreamscapes, deep into the speaker’s lineage and psyche.

In fewer than 40 pages and just 15 poems, The Protection of Ghosts provides more than a quick read—it’s truly a sensory experience that lingers long after you’ve left its pages.

Purchase your copy of The Protection of Ghosts from V. Press.

culture family poetry trauma