𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐈 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭, 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐱 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒯𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶 𝑀𝒶𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓇, 𝒞𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝒜𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓊𝑒 𝒫𝓊𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

i loved how deep, personal, and raw this poetry was. it spoke levels and hit deeper than others. just the style of poetry i like to read. thank you net galley!

I have always and will always love Trista's work. I originally read this when it was self published and the published copy has only made it better. A beautiful collection about depression and finding yourself again.

Read on September 22nd, 2024. Written on September 24th, 2024.

Excuse me while I go cry in a corner over this book.

It's beautiful.
It's captivating.
It's got amazing photography and collages.
The poetry is enchanting, raw and powerful.

I am honestly in love with it. Hats off to the author. I felt seen.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this before it came out, I hope more people find this book and find solace in its pages.

Signing off.
B.

(Free ARC from NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing | Central Avenue Poetry that I chose to review after reading - Cross-posted on Goodreads on September 24th, 2024)

This is a beautifully uplifting group of poetry. You may not think so when you are first getting into it, but it is all good.
I adored this collection.

This is one of the shortest reads I’ve picked up in a while but it’s probably had the most impact whilst reading.

Small Ghost is a collection of poems and wonderful illustrations that really grabbed every fibre of my anxious and depressed body. So many of these felt so raw and relatable, I could have easily said they were written about my own thoughts and feelings.

I would say if you’re ready to address depression, anxiety, grief and loss then this may just be worth picking up and taking your time to read and really give yourself the space to feel everything you need to. An outstanding collection, I will likely read these again in the future

Again, poetry <3 Trista Mateer knows exactly where to hit ya', I love it. I'm at a loss for words to describe the ultimate love and place Trista holds in my heart.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review

4 stars!


I really loved this, it was different to what I'm used to by Trista Mateer, but it was stunning nonetheless. Some lines really struck me and I'm just so happy to continue reading her work!

A connected to a few of the pieces but overall I felt like this wasn’t for me. I was expecting to connect with much more of this collection but unfortunately it fell flat for me.

It’s kinda freaky how accurate and SPOT ON this poetry is for depression and anxiety.

I’ve dealt with both for decades and that small ghost just never seems to go away. Always hovering around you and giving you a hard time when things feel like they’re going well.

You can tell on a deeply personal level that the author has experienced both anxiety and depression for herself. Only someone who’s felt it can explain it, so while some may find these poems chaotic and confusing, for those of us with our own Small Ghost, what a wonderful companion to have by our side when we need some comfort and to remember we’re not alone.

𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙤𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣.

This was such a great book. Very thoughtful. It led to a lot of deep conversations with my partner about life.

I read the first half of this collection of poems while having a pretty rough day. I could relate to the majority of them in terms of what I was feeling, so I would say that Trista Mateer's poetry has a comforting feeling to it. There is a lot of diversity in terms of how depression, anxiety and other mental health issues were dealt with. For this reason, the mood changes constantly throughout the book; from gloomy to occasionally lighthearted; "And the world keeps turning (...)/Bleak, but we stay silly" (p. 38).
There is also irony at times, aspect which I really liked. One other thing that I liked were the illustrations and photography. They fit really nicely with the verse.
Overall, I liked this collection. I think as you go through the poems, the mood becomes lighter and, in the end, the book feels like a warm hug. Hopeful. Comforting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Small Ghost walks you through the mind of someone struggling with their mental health, specifically someone experiencing depression and anxiety. The poetry and illustrations by Trista Mateer and photography by Lauren Zaknoun together beautifully capture this painstakingly difficult experience of existing with mental health struggles. As someone who has a history of mental illness, I found that a lot of these poems and images really resonated with me. There was a lot of repetition, but I don’t necessarily find that to be a bad thing. This collection of poems is really deep without having to use super complex structures or verbiage, which I personally appreciate. This is to say, if you’re looking for a lot of variety and complexity, this one may not be for you, but I quite enjoyed it!
Some of my favorites were: small ghost collects things, small ghost plays animal crossing, small ghost barely remembers her childhood, small ghost downloads sims 4, and apology tour

Be sure to check Small Ghost out when it publishes on September 24th!

"Poetry is a survival tactic
Poetry is resistance
Poetry is proof of existence"

I received an advanced reader copy from Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing, and I would like to thank them for that. This poetry and photography collection will be released on September 24th.

Those poems are mostly about struggling with mental health, mainly with depression. It's about how it will get better, even if we don't believe in it, and how at times it looks like it will never get better, or at least not for a long time. I believe that this work is very important to read, especially for someone struggling with similar issues. As I progressed within the poems, I saw hope coming again, the "small ghost" getting better, page by page. There was hope, and that is so important.

I also think that it is very pretty. One criticism that could be made could be that Mateer's poems are repetitive, however I do not really agree. Each poem was unique in its own way, with a similar structure but they were different enough and a pleasure to read. But also, I do believe that it is better to read this small part by small part, savour it in a way. I can see where that criticism comes from, but I personally have this trouble (not being able to read it in one sitting without getting "bored") with most of poetry. One more thing but the fact that the character of "Small Ghost" exists is what makes this book so lovely.

I straight up started sobbing while reading some of the poems, my favourite being most probably "Small Ghost shares a few too-honest poems about her life" but also "Recovery is forever". Finally, the whole thing is sublimed by Lauren Zaknoun's gorgeous photographs, which helped make this reading a whole experience.

First of all, I want to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this as an ARC. I greatly appreciate it!

I gave this book a 4/5 stars because it ultimately succeeded at what it set out to do: chronicle a mental health journey (specifically depression). It was very relatable, very easy to read. You don't need to know anything about poetry to understand this book. I feel like depression was displayed very honestly, and it was a nice read.

However... all of the poems blur together in my head after the fact. I think my phone said this was like 170 pages. Minus the art and other miscellaneous pages, you're probably looking at 130 pages (conservatively) of poetry. And these 130 pages of poetry had maybe 3 styles, and since this is all about depression, they all have the same topic of conversation. Basically, you're looking at about 100 poems (some had multiple pages) of the exact same content in free verse. If you're really into repetition, this is the poetry collection for you (also because there is a LOT of repetition utilized throughout the poems themselves).

In the end, I did enjoy my time reading these poems. But I cannot recall a single poem that stood out above the rest, as they were all nearly identical.

I personally found this too repetitive and bleak, but I did enjoy the photography. I feel like this would have worked well as an art exhibit.
Still, it will be an important read for a lot of people,

This was a raw collection of poetry exploring isolation and mental health. The poetry is accessible, lyrical and relatable. A very real and vibrant look at depression portrayed in an unusual and artistic way. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy soul-searching poetry, or who sometimes struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"𝒊 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅"

Small ghost is a deeply relatable poetry collection about feeling like the ghost of who you once were. I can somehow see myself in every pages and there’s something so comforting about that.
The art and photography between the poems are a nice touch too!

𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬!

I think a lot of people will see themselves reflected in these words and poems as much as I did and i genuinely teared up a few times because it hit me deep with things I am struggling myself. I haven't read a lot of poetry books so I cannot really review this on a general knowledge of how poetry books work but i think it's unfair to say there is a general basis to them because poetry is great tool to express yourself freely and without being bound to something.
I usually do dislike modern pop culture and social media references in books and it's the only thing in this collection that irked me at first but in the end it was essential to what the author is expressing and people will relate to that too just as I did.

3.5 ⭐️

Small Ghost is a searing exploration of depression, loneliness, and being chronically online, with stunning photography by @laurenzaknounart. This collection blends humour with the realities of mental health, poking fun at how we cope without making light of the pain. I smiled in parts ("small ghost writes a poem" felt like a personal attack, in the best way), and in others, I just wanted to reach out and hug the author.

It reminded me of my younger self. The version who hadn’t started healing, who didn’t realise how much she needed to. I wish I’d had this poetry collection then - I’m immensely glad that it exists now.

Trigger warnings: this collection explores depression and su*cide ideation. If you are struggling with your mental health please prioritise your wellbeing - books will always be here when you’re ready for them 🫶🏼

Thanks to @netgalley and Michelle Halket at @centralavenue for providing an ARC of this collection for review.