“Guilt Ledger tells a story of inheritances and indelible impressions—’Consider each family a mint of sorts,’ it declares.  Ross White’s collection captures a very particular era of American banking scandal, but it is about so much more. Among the poet’s formidable talents are his ability to use unexpected vessels for portraiture, pattern-making, and dark humor. ‘Today they fired the receptionist,’ observes ‘Downsizing.’ ‘Today they fired the efficiency expert who conducted the first round of firings./…They fired the list of fireable offenses./…Fired the hand that could no longer sign its name.’ Those who have passed through Washington, D.C., will recognize the martini-brine of ‘temples to transactionality’ and feel the particular thrill of the Red Line metro whooshing past. Reading Guilt Ledger opens a door for me—to talking about economic wreckage, mistakes of our fathers, mistakes we keep making—and I find myself deeply grateful for these daring, profoundly moving poems.” —Sandra Beasley, author of Made to Explode