No Depression in Heaven
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Written during country music’s most recent ascent in popularity, this poetry “LP” features ten “tracks” that each tip language out of key. Dwelling on 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 paradise will provide release, No Depression in Heaven resolutely riffs on our latter-day anxiety, asking how we respond to bad times and what it means to hold onto something toxic because of the comforts it affords.
ryan fitzpatrick
ryan fitzpatrick s the author of five books of poetry, including the recent No Depression in Heaven (Talonbooks, 2025) and Sunny Ways (Invisible, 2023). Their creative nonfiction book Ace Theory, an essay-in-fragments about asexuality, will be published by Book*Hug in 2026. They are a former editor at filling Station magazine and helped organize the Flywheel reading series. They were the 2024–2025 Writer-in-Residence at the University of Alberta. You can find them at ryanfitzpatrick.ca. They live in Calgary.
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