Up, Out & Over

Jack Mackey's poetic memoir, Up, Out & Over, is a thrill ride of sorts. His candid poems are Polaroid captures of the vicissitudes of love and family life (warts and all), as well as mile markers of the times (Vietnam, AIDS, Gay Rights, the Pandemic). At turns cathartic, emotional, or both, the vibe for me is a little bit John Sebastian and a little bit Jimi Hendrix. You know-learn from your mistakes, forgive and forget, love and let go, and find some peace.

-Richard Peabody, editor, Gargoyle Magazine



It has never been suggested that life is an easy path and Jack Mackey's debut collection, Up, Out & Over, is a clear illustration of that. Mackey, like his father in "The Harbor, Finally," has accepted / how his course was mapped by rhythmic tides, though many times the tides were rough. Each of us will find pieces of ourselves in these poems as we move toward Grace, even if we have to fight for it to the end. Up, Out & Over is poetry for everyone.

-Linda Blaskey, poet, author of White Horses



Jack Mackey's first collection, Up, Out & Over, doesn't flinch as his poems deeply explore a life of both slow and sudden changes. Poems about parents and parenting, loss and regeneration, long- term relationships and those cut short by tragedy, are all carefully crafted in a clear and moving narrative style, full of inspired language and nuance. The author may have come to poetry a little late in life, but his evolution in the Art has been rapid and built on solid foundations. Spend some time with this book and you'll learn some valuable things about being fully human.

--jim bourey, poet, author of Out There and Back Again, The Distance Between Us