Challenges of clinical depression outlined in new poetry book 'Unusually Grand Ideas'

James Davis May is a professor in the English Department at Mercer University, where he directs the creative writing program. In 2021 he was a National Endowment for the Arts fellow in poetry.

May’s works has appeared in numerous literary journals, and his previous collection of poems, “Unquiet Things,” was published by Louisiana State University Press in 2016. His new collection is titled “Unusually Grand Ideas.” 

“Depression and masculinity can be a particularly deadly combination, so I do think that speaking about depression is a bit of a mission right now,” May reflected.