OLD STORIES, by poet Maggie Martin, is both a collection of powerful poetry and a memoir, a journey through the poet's memory of a country--the Anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania--now gone. But Martin's strong eye for detail sets us quickly back in that place of family, ghosts, and gypsies. Her work resonates so completely that we realize the truths of the human heart, of human magnificence, and human frailty, are with us always--she brings all of these into stark view in this ghostly world of memory. "An extraordinary book from an extraordinarily gifted poet." -- Joseph Hurka