A remarkable debut collection of poems in the tradition of Browning and Frost

The latest in the Sewanee Writer's Series published by the Overlook Press, Philip Stephens's The Determined Days presents far-ranging urban and rural locales in the Midwest, the Ozarks, and northern California. In each of these bleak landscapes, Stephens introduces us to a host of unforgettable characters: a former gravedigger who believes ghosts stole his first-born; a young couple forced to stay the night at a motel run by a pornography-watching desk clerk; a woman haunted by a headless deer; a gang of railroad signalmen who get through their exhausting workdays by telling stories, arguing, and vying for what power they can gain in an indifferent world.

Throughout this stunning collection, characters tell tales to bring order to their disappointing and already-determined days. Ironic, sometimes tragic, and always provocative, The Determined Days is a startling reevaluation of the ideas of labor, life, and relationships--as well as the expectations of contemporary American poetry.

"These vigorous, sometimes brutal, poems are famillialy related as well as indebted to Frost's blank verse.... Read as a whole--as they should be--the cumulative effect of this truly accomplished collections is powerful, disturbing, and authoritative. I am filled with admiration for Mr. Stephens's work."--Anthony Hecht