Like a lot of books these days, No Depression in Heaven is a book about living in bad times. It takes a lot of investigative inspiration from the forms, texts, and histories of country music, a working-class genre that has a bit of an obsession with looking back to supposedly better times. The book’s title comes from a song by the Carter Family that was written and recorded during another bout of historical bad times - the Great Depression - where people similarly sang a worried song about political horizons at the seeming end of things. I wrote the ten pieces in No Depression in Heaven as a kind of poetry LP, each “track” trying on a different stylistic approach to our own informationally saturated wishes for something greater. Available now wherever you get your books. I hope you’ll give it a look.
Now available from Model Press: a reissue of my 2007 poetry book Fake Math, newly revised and expanded. Here are a few of the newer poems from the book for you to enjoy. I hope you’ll give the whole book a read. Available now for free. Link in bio. #poetry #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #poem #poems #flarfish
At the same time I was polishing up the interview rob and I did in 2020, he was interviewing me about my recent work, about chapbook publishing, repurposing old work, and, as always, literary form. I hope you’ll check it out. Link in bio. @rob_mclennan_writer #poetry #smallpress
If you’re in Banff or near your computer this Friday, and you’re looking for something to do, you might check out this reading, featuring the folks listed here and a bunch more. It should be a good time!
Just released by Model Press, a long-form chat with rob mclennan. Way, way back in 2020, in the dark days of Covid, rob and I had an epic chat about poetryworld and his place in it. This new chapbook is a very belated snapshot of that chat. There’s a lot here about rob’s work and how we might imagine literary life in midcareer. I hope you’ll check it out. Link in bio. @rob_mclennan_writer@ucalgarypress #poet #poetry #interview
A pile of my new above/ground press chapbook Metal of the Future has arrived on my doorstep. Maybe I’ll hand you one if I see you around town. Otherwise send @rob_mclennan_writer $6 and he’ll send you one. You know where to find him, he’s everywhere.
