Unusually Grand Ideas - by James Davis May (Paperback)

About the Book

"In his second poetry collection, James Davis May writes candidly about clinical depression and the complications it brings to marriage and fatherhood. Though titled after one of the side effects of antidepressants, Unusually Grand Ideas ultimately discovers that the most audacious ideas of all are those that lead us back to wonder and love. These discoveries do not come easy. At times, the darkness May describes is overwhelming, as when he compares the experience of a depressive episode to being "an unskilled swimmer who's gone / out too far and pauses to gauge the distance / he knows is likely to kill him." Through that distance, though, he still hears "voices he loves wondering where he is." The poems in Unusually Grand Ideas range from spare lyrical depictions of pain to discursive meditations that argue for hope, and though they take on some of the grandest ideas of all-the soul, civility, Good and Evil-they never lose sight of the concrete or the contemporary. Whether considering "the ridiculous splendor" of watching a meteor shower with his family or receiving spam from a dead friend's email account, May searches for meaning, asking the difficult but important questions that both trouble and sustain us"--

Book Synopsis

Titled after one of the side effects of antidepressants, Unusually Grand Ideas is a poignant account of clinical depression and the complications it introduces to marriage and fatherhood. James Davis May's poems describe mental illness with nuance, giving a full account of the darkness but also the flashes of hope, love, and even humor that lead toward healing. In pieces ranging from spare lyrical depictions of pain to discursive meditations that argue for hope, May searches for meaning by asking the difficult but important questions that both trouble and sustain us.

Review Quotes

"James Davis May's second book begins quietly, chronicling a series of losses, then escalates into a harrowingly exact, artfully rendered portrait of depression: 'I needed a darkness I'd probably survive / to escape the one I knew I wouldn't.' May nails the paralyzing character of his illness and somehow manages, through art and ardor, to negotiate with despair, climbing toward a position that acknowledges darkness but does not deny hope. 'Forgive me, Love, my difficulties with joy, ' he writes to his young daughter, and to himself and his grateful readers, 'sometimes the world doesn't disappoint.' Unusually Grand Ideas is wrenching, genuine, and superb."--Mark Doty

About the Author

James Davis May is the author of the poetry collection Unquiet Things and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in creative writing. He lives in Macon, Georgia, where he directs the creative writing program at Mercer University.