Deep Survival: Ascension and Rapture

by Ryan Morrow

I think it was Camus that said, "In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion." Actually, I know the great Albert Camus said this, because we have the omnipotent Google to verify such claims. This particular statement by him seemed fitting for a brief description of what "Deep Survival" is about, as much as anything can be about something anyway. And much like Sisyphus or really any of us, if we are to find "meaning" in anything at all we must accept the absurd. Any and all human acts hold equal potential to be meaningless or fulfilling, we create the value of all our treasures. But certainly, no treasure can be worth anything without a journey and not without strife. In this vain, I have polished a few of my stone words, rolled them up an infinite incline, and will be dropping them into the beautiful abyss of your eyes. I hope with no expectations, that all of you will enjoy it somehow. In stores Spring 2018. Thanks for reading. XXXXX Ryan Morrow XXXXX

342 pages, Paperback

Published May 25, 2018

About the author

Ryan Morrow is an analytical chemist and poet living in the American midwest. In his free time from the laboratory he writes poetry about his experiences and observations of the world. His style is a chimera of the idealized writers of old and the wham-bam-thank-you-mam style of today's instagramers. Poems that span the gamut of topic and form, but always searching with a curious yet demanding intent.
To date he has released two volumes. "Chase Something Worth the Kill" his literary cherry-pop from 2015 that has proven to be an extremely elusive book to acquire. Short punchy lines of verse that leave the reader just as perplexed and captivated. Then came the hefty and more refined "Deep Survival" of 2018, a more well rounded and focused effort with beautiful illustrations to help navigate the reader to their mysterious destination.
Due out on Halloween of 2020, Mr. Morrow is set to release his third and most ambitious work to date, "Weightless: Blood of Flower, Heart of Beast." A book about beauty and its beasts, the ephemeral nature of man, and falling in love with uncertainty.
It's safe to say that Ryan is far from exhausted when it come to the written word. Much more territory begs to be explored and brought to the surface.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncle Donny was a poet and a drinker. One or both dispositions encouraged schizophrenic episodes and eventual incontinence. He gave me a Barlow knife with my name engraved on the blade. A personalized tool, sure way to win boy-heart. When he passed I asked if I could have his poems. I learned the boxes of poetry he had saved for that reason poets only know had been thrown away--the only things worth selling at his estate sale were his 83 ashtrays and TV/VCR combo. I was only able to retrieve one of his works and it is framed next to my desk. Reading Ryan Morrow's collection, "Deep Survival: Ascension and Rapture," I thought often of Donny: the fruition of the perennial poetic impulse--that sense and drive and validation--is captured throughout this collection. The comedic moments are there to show masochism is sacred when juxtaposed against structure and power. Morrow wants to be buried with his master's corpse to only spring from her ribcage as one with the cosmos. Science is here; so is the horse-track. Bukowski is breathing but Sagan is telling him why. Baudelaire's presence is acknowledged but he refuses to leave the foyer. The thread holding the operation together, however, is not a constant tipping of the hat: it is deep Morrow. I'm truly grateful for this collection, and want to have a drink with him and Donny at a "bar at the end of the universe," where Donny could recite everything they had burned and Morrow could explain how deep that innocent Barlow knife can plunge into one's own flesh without endangering survival.