I WOKE UP EARLY THE MORNING AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD by Ian M. McCarty

Simultaneously epic and intimate, Ian M. McCarty’s “I Woke Up Early The Morning After The End Of The World” harnesses the energy unleashed by cataclysm to atomize the categories of post-apocalyptic literature. As the book’s intertwining texts plumb the abyssal mysteries of recursion, they grapple with an impulse that’s bedeviled our species since the dawn of consciousness: redemption.

“Imagine a spaceship landing on the lawn in front of Ozawa Hall during a performance of Bach cello suites or a bardic recitation of ‘Beowulf’... Imagine John Dee and Joe Brainard on the moon together, translating ‘I Remember’ into Enochian... Imagine 12 strands of DNA lighting up like an electric octopus and a half... Imagine a love letter composed on an Etch A Sketch and delivered via Pony Express.”
— Whit Griffin

“This book is an elemental memoir of what's going to happen next and we shouldn't wait too long to jump into its bright frames per minute.”
— Michael Sikkema

“Meaning oozes from the thresholds of words as McCarty’s poetry attempts to describe the wreckage of a reality that no longer corresponds to the neat conventions of language.”
— Mike Soto

Ian M. McCarty is a poet, photographer, and AI & data science product manager. He received his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2008. He was born and raised in Colorado and now resides in Chicago with his spouse and son. This is his first book.