Crisosto Apache draws powerfully on his Mescalero Apache language and culture and, guided along the way by touchstone sparks from the Japanese writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke, creates a singular journey out of “emotional burial and systemic abuse.” Where Akutagawa encounters erasure, “Gazing up at them everything was forgotten,” in Crisosto Apache’s hands, everything is remembered and confronted, and, though filled with ash, these poems are testament to struggle, survival, and, x, the mysterious light of existence. —Arthur Sze author of "The Glass Constellation"

Crisosto Apache’s Ghostword is a haunting collection about love, the pain of childhood brutality—and the stark, and gentle, beauty of the Mescalero reservation. Lines like “Not only history…but murder,” remind us of the way in which the past is never really the past. There is so much insight, beauty and awareness of what time can do in these lines, and words like “all they remember is me sitting at the edge of my bed/with the war still in my hands,” will stay long in my mind. – Erika T. Wurth, author of "White Horse".

Crisosto Apache’s Ghostword reminds us to observe through a lens of discernment and wonder. Through cutting memories and reflections, examinations of language, and the images they tether themselves to, Crisosto Apache invites us into his world—scenes and loved ones, language and imagery so astounding it’s hard to feel reality’s footing, nor should we care to. These poems ground and grant entry into other worlds where one can meet their shadow self and where death and loss, unbinding love, and heartbreak remind us of our own humanity and complex natures. This is life on every pulse on every page.
–Hillary Leftwich, author of "Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock" and "Aura".