<p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">Chris Dean's brilliant second book of poetry focuses on the stories that make each of us who we are, the stories that connect us.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">A Debt of Words</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">I don't want anything from poetry,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">I want to give back to it.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">I want to speak balms</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">and antidotes</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">that comfort and heal,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">sing connections</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">and write repairs</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">so we all feel less alone,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">blaze paths</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">and clear overgrowth</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">so others can find their way.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">I don't want anything from poetry.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">I'd rather write to repay</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">the debt of words I owe</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">to those who have done</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">the same for me.</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">"Miracles, prayers answered. Poems from the creative forces of the universe channeled</strong></p><p><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">through the pages of WE'RE ALL STORIES in THE END. Chris Dean's poems are diamonds.</strong></p><p><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">Chris Dean is a new voice to be reckoned with. WE'RE ALL STORIES in THE END is a masterpiece."</strong></p><p><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">~&nbsp;<em>Ron Whitehead, U.S. National Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)">"Chris Dean is a poet of exceptional ability. The way she catches images and works them toward the reader's mind and heart is simply amazing. Just consider her new work, WE'RE ALL STORIES IN THE END. She is a force to be reckoned with and I predict you will see more and more of her work. Get ready, America, there is a new poet on the block and she is about to wake and shake you dearly."</strong></p><p><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); color: rgba(15, 17, 17, 1)"><em>~Lee Pennington, a Kentucky Poet Laureate</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>