The Apple Ghost, published in 1989 by Peterloo Poets, is John Glenday’s first poetry collection. It consists of 48 lyric poems, many of which have also appeared in literary journals and anthologies, both in Scotland and internationally. The book is organized into three sections: “Other Lives” contains poems which are concerned with (mis)communication in familial relationships, examining questions of intimacy and distance, self and other, through the minutiae of daily lives; “Scrimshaw Work” is a loosely constructed grouping of poems which speak of a reverence for artefacts and the artistic process, and “From an Occupied Country” approaches the political condition of Scotland obliquely, panning away from concrete political statement to focus on the human experience. Throughout the volume, Glenday maintains an evocative tension between intimacy and distance, plumbing the depth of space between individuals where...
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Citation: McPhee, Christine. "The Apple Ghost". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15148, accessed 05 December 2025.]
