The Stars That Fell
Poems
Will be published approx. on 30. June 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
124 pages
978-1-64779-237-4 (ISBN)
Description
The Stars That Fell infuses poetry with a new meaning for modern Nevada and the American West. Using autobiographical details and testimony mixed with Nevada history and folklore, this poetry collection focuses on and includes the scars left by the mining industry, the military complex, and the treatment of Indigenous peoples to tell the story of the complex relationship between the people and the land.
Through his poems, Gary Short illuminates the humanity of the people of Nevada and the American West, specifically the rural communities that often get left out of the narrative. Focusing on family and the relationships between characters, he extends feelings of hope, solace, forgiveness, and even wisdom throughout this collection.
Through his poems, Gary Short illuminates the humanity of the people of Nevada and the American West, specifically the rural communities that often get left out of the narrative. Focusing on family and the relationships between characters, he extends feelings of hope, solace, forgiveness, and even wisdom throughout this collection.
Reviews / Votes
"Short's poems are grounded in this desert, but place is not his first concern; people are. He gives the people and places of Nevada, particularly rural Nevada, a kind of humanity through an artistic yet plainspoken language. It is his focus on humanity that I love. The Stars That Fell is a significant contribution to Nevada poetry." - Lindsay Wilson, professor of English, Truckee Meadows Community College; 2018 Silver Pen Award recipient; author of The Day Gives Us So Many Ways to Eat: PoemsMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Reno
United States
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
159 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-64779-237-4 (9781647792374)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Gary Short is the author of three volumes of poetry and three chapbooks. His second book, Flying Over Sonny Liston, received the Western States Book Award. He has taught at a number of universities, including Old Dominion University, University of California, Davis, and the University of Mississippi, where he served as director of the MFA program. Among his honors are a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, a Pushcart Prize, a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, a fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and several residencies at MacDowell and the Virginia Center for the Arts. He lives in Panajachel, Guatemala.
Content
Contents The Stars That Fell Psalm Gathering The Stars That Fell The Collector American Light What I Believed Little Makeweights of Guilt Driving Highway 93: Nevada Brothers Playing Catch on Christmas Day I Lay My Brother Down White Ash Herida de Amor Flying Over Sonny Liston Test Dust Teaching Poetry to Third Graders Imperfect History Vespers Two Poems About Wells, Nevada George Pascho Miller White Gentle Blue Sway Gentle Frame Blue Sway Outlines Outlines Outside American Flat Erotica Ghost Dance Near the Bravo 20 Bombing Range I Kneel to See the Great Horned Owl Naming Release In Any Gray: Return and Reiteration Hard Winter Kaleidoscope, Mischief, an Offering Tidings Shoshonean Driving Nevada/Reprise Magpies in the Graveyard Perseid Shower Twists Quetzaltenango, Oh Wow, & Two Small Stones Breath Memory, Nevada Found in Any Gray Acknowledgments About the Author