A Mash-Up Between the Poetry of Rock ’n’ Roll and the Hard Realities of Life and Loss

What would happen if a small private plane carrying one of the biggest rock bands in the world crashed down into your backyard right here in Santa Barbara? That’s the scenario that begins the action in David Starkey’s new novel Poor Ghost, which takes its title from the name of the fictional rock band that plunges us into a story that alternates between two timelines: One is about the impact of the crash on a recently widowed man’s life, and one is an oral history of the band itself.

The chunky text format — which also includes texts, news articles, police reports, social media, and those gossipy Nextdoor posts — makes this fast read even more compelling. The fictional documentary structure and rock ’n’ roll setting make easy comparisons to Daisy Jones & The Six, but some of the darker themes of loneliness and loss and the effects of celebrity on our culture give it a depth not often seen in a “rock ’n’ roll novel.”

As literary legend TC Boyle (whom Starkey interviewed for the Santa Barbara Independent in July 2023) said, “From its riveting opening through the wonderfully imaginative unfolding of its narrative, Poor Ghost is a lively hopscotch of a novel, compelling, deep, and powerful.”

Best known as Santa Barbara’s 2009-2011 Poet Laureate and the founding director of Santa Barbara City College’s Creative Writing Program, Starkey has published 11 full-length collections of poetry, but this is his first published novel. Asked about where the idea came from, he said, “I have a kayak, and I was out on what I think of as Goleta Bay, out there by the pier and by Campus Point, and there’s airplanes that take off on practice runs. And you’re sitting out there and you’re thinking, ‘What if one of those planes crashed? I would row over there and save everybody, right?’ And then, because I can see where our house begins in the foothills from there when I get far enough out, I thought, ‘What if a plane crashed in our backyard?’ And that was kind of the genesis.”

A prolific writer — even prior to retiring, he had written and produced plays and co-founded a small literary press — Starkey had attempted a few earlier works of fiction that he felt “just strayed too far from home.” This time, he decided to set it, literally, in his own backyard. While his main character, Caleb Crane, is an insurance salesman, he has more in common with Starkey than just his house. For example, both men grew up in Sacramento. In addition, “I took advantage of the fact that I have played in bands since I was in high school to sort of create this band that was really big…. And as I wrote, it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And then it had to have a little mystery edge. Like, what happened with the plane? Why did it crash?”

While he didn’t use a specific band as the model for Poor Ghost, “in the rock pantheon, I think of them as kind of a lesser U2, how they got together when they were really young and they were just these working-class kids who went far beyond where they ever could have expected to be. … I think a lot of the band dynamics are just from my own experience of being in different bands over the years. Knowing how people get jealous. Who’s going to do what? What role does everyone play? I think that’s a sort of built-in dynamic for conflict. … You become friends with these people when you’re young. And then you went from being talented kids to ‘they’re gonna be your best friends for the rest of your life.’”

As Caleb’s story entwines and entangles itself with the swarm of Poor Ghost groupies and press and lookie-loos that glom onto the crash site, the oral history of the band is unveiled through interviews as well as references to their songs and albums over the years, which take their titles and lines from Starkey’s own work. Caleb’s story sort of “accordions back between what was happening with the other story with the band and their careers and lives, but I stole a lot of titles and lines from my own poems and some songs I’ve written. Because I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to be in trouble with copyright, but I think I can steal from myself from my own work,’” says Starkey. The result is an amusing set of song/album names like “Ugly Word,” “Between Religion and Hygiene,” and “September Pears,” which adds yet another layer of depth and humor to this highly original novel. 

Chaucer’s Books (3321 State Street) is hosting a book launch event for David Starkey on Tuesday, March 26 at 6 p.m., featuring an in-store book talk and signing of his novel Poor Ghost (Keylight Books/Turner Publishing). For more information, see chaucersbooks.com or turnerpublishing.com.