The Book of Falling

David McCooey’s new poetry collection, from Upswell.

(Order here)

To fall is to be human. We fall in love, fall asleep, and fall from grace. And in this epoch that we have called the Anthropocene, we are witnessing nothing less than the fall of nature. This extraordinary collection, the fifth by the prize-winning poet David McCooey, covers the full tragicomic spectrum of falling: from pratfalls to tragic demises, from accident-prone parents to ruinous celebrities. Within its unifying thematic focus, The Book of Falling is tonally and formally diverse, attending with great artistry to the calamities and absurdities of history and the contemporary world. The collection comprises of satires and elegies, inventive poetic autofictions and biofictions, and innovative photopoems, employing found photos and photographs by the author. This is a collection that welcomes its readers, even as it plunges them into new ways of understanding the beautiful, fallen worlds that we inhabit.

‘McCooey’s gift is his control of tone’, John Kinsella, The Saturday Paper

‘…a poetics that deserves our undistracted attention’, Judith Bishop, Australian Book Review

‘The Book of Falling brings us McCooey at the height of his powers’, Andrew Ford.

‘McCooey’s books are skilfully written, varied, thought provoking, and above all enjoyable. You should read them’, Liam Guilar, The Brazen Head

Named as a ‘standout title’ to look out for in 2023 by the Sydney Morning Herald.