“The potent latest from Jones excoriates an American present that refuses to learn from its past or correct for a possibly disastrous future. A kaleidoscope of grief and anger mixes with the poet’s wit, giving these timely poems a striking directness. . . . This penetrating collection shows Jones at his poetic best.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Jones’s latest is yet another masterly work, though sung in a distinctly different tenor. . . . [His] most free-flowing work yet, a centripetal collection where rage and pain and weariness swirl and coalesce with stunning emotional and conceptual clarity, yet so intimate it feels bled from the author’s very veins.” —Library Journal, starred review

“Jones unravels and reconfigures language like he’s untying a knot, then rethreads the strands in a delicate new construction. . . . Jones writes in the space between wreckage and resilience. He offers a calibrated reckoning with his own grief, cradled in ambiguity—and we wait, holding our breath, to see what is tendered next.” —Erin Overbey, The New Yorker

“Personal and universal, full of grief and sadness but also packed with hope and humor, stylish and entertaining but also profound and touching. The work of Saeed Jones has always been those things, but perhaps never as much as it is in this poetry collection. We knew great work would come from the pandemic, and mixed with his own life, experiences and losses, Jones has delivered what we all knew was coming: beautiful, shining work about the darkness that often envelops us.” —Gabino Iglesias, NPR

“As he did in his memoir and his previous poetry collection, Jones here whips up a dizzying blend of humor, vulnerability and astute social observation to map his place in the world.” —The New York Times

“A serious argument for community and the rebellion of joy. I love [“Alive at the End of the World”] for how it shows us the importance of defending our right to pleasure.” —United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón, NPR’s The Slowdown

“The beauty of Jones’s poems lies in the way they approach death through the pleasures of being alive, deploying a redemptive levity or an acerbic conviviality to lend shape to catastrophe. . . . Passionate and entertaining, Jones’s book etches with fire the ‘alive’ in its title.” —David Woo, Poetry Foundation

“A powerful poetry collection about the public and private betrayals of life as we know it. Jones digs deep into personal and collective histories of grief to confront the perils of white supremacy and the cracked ideological foundation that the United States sits on.” —Chicago Review of Books

“A poetic onslaught of raw emotion—in the best kind of way. . . . Full of powerful moments, each composed of carefully curated words set against a backdrop of the repeated refrain that this is the end of the world. This book feels absolutely necessary right now.” —Anne Mai Yee Jansen, Book Riot

“The potent latest from Jones excoriates an American present that refuses to learn from its past or correct for a possibly disastrous future. A kaleidoscope of grief and anger mixes with the poet’s wit, giving these timely poems a striking directness. . . . This penetrating collection shows Jones at his poetic best.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Jones’s latest is yet another masterly work, though sung in a distinctly different tenor. . . . [His] most free-flowing work yet, a centripetal collection where rage and pain and weariness swirl and coalesce with stunning emotional and conceptual clarity, yet so intimate it feels bled from the author’s very veins.” —Library Journal, starred review

“Jones unravels and reconfigures language like he’s untying a knot, then rethreads the strands in a delicate new construction. . . . Jones writes in the space between wreckage and resilience. He offers a calibrated reckoning with his own grief, cradled in ambiguity—and we wait, holding our breath, to see what is tendered next.” —Erin Overbey, The New Yorker

“Personal and universal, full of grief and sadness but also packed with hope and humor, stylish and entertaining but also profound and touching. The work of Saeed Jones has always been those things, but perhaps never as much as it is in this poetry collection. We knew great work would come from the pandemic, and mixed with his own life, experiences and losses, Jones has delivered what we all knew was coming: beautiful, shining work about the darkness that often envelops us.” —Gabino Iglesias, NPR

“As he did in his memoir and his previous poetry collection, Jones here whips up a dizzying blend of humor, vulnerability and astute social observation to map his place in the world.” —The New York Times

“A serious argument for community and the rebellion of joy. I love [“Alive at the End of the World”] for how it shows us the importance of defending our right to pleasure.” —United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón, NPR’s The Slowdown

“The beauty of Jones’s poems lies in the way they approach death through the pleasures of being alive, deploying a redemptive levity or an acerbic conviviality to lend shape to catastrophe. . . . Passionate and entertaining, Jones’s book etches with fire the ‘alive’ in its title.” —David Woo, Poetry Foundation

“A powerful poetry collection about the public and private betrayals of life as we know it. Jones digs deep into personal and collective histories of grief to confront the perils of white supremacy and the cracked ideological foundation that the United States sits on.” —Chicago Review of Books

“A poetic onslaught of raw emotion—in the best kind of way. . . . Full of powerful moments, each composed of carefully curated words set against a backdrop of the repeated refrain that this is the end of the world. This book feels absolutely necessary right now.” —Anne Mai Yee Jansen, Book Riot