Dead Burying the Dead Under a Quaking Aspen

David Cranmer's debut chapbook of poetry extracts intimate, heartfelt insight from a life disarmed by death and depression. In the first section, Cranmer probes the many shades of death, from the breaking point of inner spirit to "canceled" icons, and from the loss of a loved one to crimes of passion and cold-blooded murder. He also navigates the streams of depression rooted in him since childhood, as he imagines himself a voyager in deep space cut off from those around I set the controls for approval, burning a lot of cosmic fuel just to say hello. Cranmer then lifts the veil of depression and despair in the final part to reveal glimmers of sanguinity, finding resilience in the support of family and believing that each day breaks with such hope. Stephen J. Golds ( Always the Dead ) writes of Cranmer's prose, "He lays himself bare in his poems, sharing the darknesses and insecurities in such a way as to be endearing and at the same time wholly relatable." Chris La Tray ( One-Sentence Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large ) says of Dead Burying the Dead Under a Quaking Aspen , "Here is a wonderful book."