No Depression in Heaven Front Cover

Paperback / softback
ISBN: 9781772016956
Pages: 160
Pub. Date: October 28 2025
Dimensions: 9" x 6" x 0.5"
Rights: Available: WORLD
Categories
Poetry / POE023000

  • POETRY / Canadian
  • MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Country & Bluegrass
  • POETRY / Subjects & Themes / General

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No Depression in Heaven

By ryan fitzpatrick

No Depression in Heaven asks how we respond to bad times. Written amid country music’s ascent in popularity and structured like an album, it consists of ten “tracks” that each take up a rhythm, only to bend it out of shape.

Asking whether it is best to look backward to a seemingly better past, longing for a way to make things great again, or to stare into the abyss of the future, gambling that entry into heaven will finally provide release from a weary life, No Depression in Heaven rejects both of these dangerous horizons. It chooses instead to remain resolutely in present uncertainty, addresses our latter-day anxiety through poetic improvisation, using the text as a space of play and experimentation. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, both musical and poetic – and taking its title from a famous Carter Family song – No Depression in Heaven asks what it means to hold onto something toxic because of the comforts it affords, to daydream about days long past rather than gripping the reins of the present.

This is a book that pulls on its boots, tilts its hat, and brushes the dust off its Nudie suit before tipping language out of key.