Chris Dean's brilliant second book of poetry focuses on the stories that make each of us who we are, the stories that connect us.

A Debt of Words

I don't want anything from poetry,

I want to give back to it.

I want to speak balms

and antidotes

that comfort and heal,

sing connections

and write repairs

so we all feel less alone,

blaze paths

and clear overgrowth

so others can find their way.

I don't want anything from poetry.

I'd rather write to repay

the debt of words I owe

to those who have done

the same for me.

****

One morning, years ago, as I drove my giant tractor across a coal barren wilderness,

working for Kentucky Reclamation, reclaiming strip mined lands, I prayed for a miracle,

a sign of hope to show me I was on the right path, finding a way to survive, helping to heal

the earth, and live free as a rebel poet. As I prayed I looked up and there was a white dove

flying six feet above my head. That's how Chris Dean's poems arrived from out of the blue.

Miracles, prayers answered. Poems from the creative forces of the universe channeled

through the pages of WE'RE ALL STORIES in THE END. Chris Dean's poems are diamonds.

Chris Dean is a new voice to be reckoned with. WE'RE ALL STORIES in THE END is a masterpiece.

Ron Whitehead, U.S. National Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate