Fall Higher

Dean Young

Fall Higher is a major new collection by one of America’s most inventive and entertaining writers. Dean Young’s work contends with the turbulence of love—wryly cataloging mistakes, the deterioration of relationships, and broken vows. “But don’t despair,” he counsels readers. “There are designs that seem like chaos / only because you’re too close.” Young’s humor is as sharp as ever, coupled with a heart-earned vulnerability that renders Fall Higher his most intimate collection. Young urges us to “fall higher” until “there’s nothing left but hope.”

Paperback: $16.00 list price

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Hardcover $22.00 list price

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ISBN: 9781556594014

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781556593116

Format: Hardcover

About the Author

Poet Dean Young was born in Columbia, Pennsylvania, and received his MFA from Indiana University. Recognized as one of the most energetic, influential poets writing today, his numerous collections of poetry include Strike Anywhere (1995), winner of the Colorado Prize for Poetry; Skid (2002), finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; Elegy on Toy Piano (2005), finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Primitive Mentor (2008), shortlisted for the International Griffin Poetry Prize; Bender: New and Selected Poems (2012); Shock by Shock (2015); and Solar Perplexus (2019). He has also written a book on poetics, The Art …

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Reviews

“Young has always stood out for his sharp humor, boundless poetic energy, and sheer readability. If adventurous poetry can sometimes feel like a tenuous tightrope walk, Young’s poems feel more like zip lines.” —Boston Globe

“In his 13th book, Young confronts mortality and the frailty of relationships with his trademark humor and inventiveness, but also with a newfound vulnerability and urgency.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Inspired by ‘the hocus- / pocus gnosis of this world,’ Young’s fast-paced improvisations are held together not only by the occasional imposition of rhymed couplets and triplets and a self-rationalizing philosophy in which a grounding belief in the protean illogic of human existence is the point (‘I did hallucinogens for corroboration’), but through a subtle yet strong emotional engagement, as recognizably deep notes of loss, failure, regret, tenderness, awe, and despair can be discerned amid the bright dissonance of non sequiturs.” —Library Journal