A Hauntological Investigation of the Works of Thomas Meyer

A Hauntological Investigation of the Works of Thomas Meyer: Sun Nailed to Water is a bibliographical study that draws critical and literary-historical attention to the works of the poet Thomas Meyer, situating his writing within postwar ("New American") queer and avant-garde contexts. The book investigates various personal and poetic communities, including Meyer's connections to first- and second-generation "New American" poets; the intertwining of his literary, publishing, and personal relationship with Jonathan Williams; his literary apprenticeships and occasional breaks with senior postwar poets; and Meyer's engagements with and idiosyncratic development of poetic techniques, such as channelling/mediumship, translation, and the use of personae.

Martrich's investigation unfolds through a theoretical engagement with hauntology, addressing and redressing gaps, absences, and "specters" (including those of Jack Spicer, Sappho, and Strato) in both Meyer's work and its literary-critical reception. The study concludes with an annotated bibliographical checklist of Meyer's books from 1971 to 2025, and includes a preface by Peter O'Leary and a coda by Erica Van Horn.