Hailed as "indispensable" (David Wojahn), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
Stephen Dunn masterfully shifts between the metaphysical and the ironic,
never wavering in his essential honesty. His graceful poems confront our
contradictions with tenderness and wit, enliven the ordinary with
penetrating observation, and alert us to the haunting wonders and
relationships that surround us.
The Not Yet Fallen World draws from all nineteen of Stephen Dunn's
crystalline volumes, including his most recent, Pagan Virtues (2019);
the National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Loosestrife (1996);
and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Different Hours (2000). By turns
sardonic and profound, Dunn examines the disguises we don to hide from
ourselves and reveals sublime beauty hidden within seemingly mundane
interactions. Nine new poems extend the poet's inquiry into the
paradoxes of contemporary life; as he writes in "Love Poem Near the End
of the World," "Something keeps me holding on / to a future I didn't
think possible."
Arranged to further Dunn's signature themes--mortality, morality, and
the roles we play in the essential human comedy of getting through each
day--this final collection captures the breadth of an acclaimed poet's
achievement. His legacy is a poetic expanse suffused with fearless
generosity and perceptive wisdom.
