The evolving nature of the self, Lucy Dixcart's Company of Ghosts

There’s some terrific poetry being written these days around the motif of ghosts. Anna Saunders’ Ghosting for Beginners (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2018) is an excellent case in point, as are Rebecca Farmer’s two pamphlets, Not Really (Smith-Doorstop, 2014) and A Separate Appointment (New Walk Editions, 2022).

The latter poet is especially interesting as a point of comparison and contrast with the subject of today's review, Lucy Dixcart and her first full collection, Company of Ghosts (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2024). In both poets’ writing, ghosts interact with the living, though the ghosts in Rebecca Farmer’s poetry are primarily lost loved ones, which is understandable given she is from an older generation. 

In Lucy Dixcart’s case, meanwhile, her ghosts tend not to be sourced from the dead. Instead, they represent the hypothetical selves that could have existed if different life choices had been made, or they act out the role of former selves, all seen from someone who’s approaching the mid-point of life, looking back on youth and wondering what might have been.

One such example of forking paths can be found in the opening lines to ‘In Concert’…

At night, my lost sisters rise –
floating ghosts manacled with kelp,
faces moon-soaked, lassoed by their own
salty hair.

Each sings her last moment - 
a job declined, a child that wasn’t,
a door closed, or opened.
I’ve shed a self at every threshold…

And then those afore-mentioned former selves appear later on the collection, passing judgement on present-day events and speakers, as in ‘Reunion’, in which the third person plays the ghost…

…She’s rolling her eyes,
propels me to some former friends. We sift
through weddings, children, work – nothing sticks.
I call for help, but she’s jigsawed apart
and all her edges are missing…

Throughout this collection, Lucy Dixcart takes the device of ghosts and uses it innovatively to explore the evolving nature of the self. Like all good poetry, Company of Ghosts confounds our expectations and enriches our own inner lives as we find ourselves encountering our own ghosts too…