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MOUNTAIN CLIMBING A RIVER, poetry by Michael T. Young
Publication Date: January 15, 2026
Paperback, 82 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-31-4
Michael T. Young’s new poetry collection Mountain Climbing a River begins with the “smell of gunpowder” and the truth of “White Privilege” that “When you’re not the target / you can ignore the gun.” But he forces the reader to recognize how we all are targets (and all complicit), how the monsters under his daughter’s bed – whether Nazis or climate change – are all too real. Which is to say this is not always a comfortable read, but it is a necessary one – one that expresses how language and memory matter, for otherwise we are left “not knowing who we are, without words, / without stories about where we came from / and the dream of where we’re going.” It also is hopeful, leaning into family and community “and how much more / we need each other to keep from drifting,” with “the only certain outcome: that everybody drifting toward / each other, faster and faster, will meet at the center.”
Praise for Michael T. Young & Mountain Climbing a River
Like the poet Langston Hughes, Michael T. Young has known rivers. Mighty and pocket sized, filled with stones perfect to give a young son, and imaginative tropes galore. He has also known oceans, waterfalls, a corporate life, a beloved family and endless mysteries. including clouds that have “found their way”; glaciers that “took detours to winter”. In his title poem, “Mountain Climbing a River,” Young writes, “But I have aged / into the lustrous ache of this river / a body of heavy churning, and wake / to the slowed currents of each morning.” And like Hughes and these lines from his poem about explaining the fleshy mountain-skin of the Hudson River to his son, his words are wide, broad, and muscular. Whether he is writing about family, rhythm in music (from Mahler to the B-52s), aging, the natural world, a naked man in the middle of 42nd Street or ghosts, he invites in an immense and bold river of imagery. These gobsmacking poems carry his reader along on a raft of intellectual and spiritual wanderings and they will leave you reeling, dizzy, aware of all language can do.
—Elizabeth Cohen, author of Mermaids of Albuquerque & the memoir The Family on Beartown Road
Michael Young’s poems are like the wings of an eagle expanding and compressing, taking the reader on a path that starts simply only to open to clouds of knowing; he understands that poets must see and hear hard. It is this visceral intensity that elevates his poetry and invites the reader to share experiences. The reader is moved to read, again and again, these most inviting poems.
—Bertha Rogers, author of What Want Brings
Informed by history, politics and faith, Michael T. Young crafts a powerful cry of grief and anger at the injustices of our society. “You can’t know what you forget,” the poet implores, urging us to stay aware of our individual roles in maintaining oppression.
—Michael Simms, author of Strange Meadowlark
About the Author
Mountain Climbing a River is Michael T. Young’s fourth collection. His third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for Living in the Counterpoint. He received honorable mention for the New Jersey Poets Prize in 2022. His poetry has been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac.
Publication Date: January 15, 2026
Paperback, 82 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-31-4
Michael T. Young’s new poetry collection Mountain Climbing a River begins with the “smell of gunpowder” and the truth of “White Privilege” that “When you’re not the target / you can ignore the gun.” But he forces the reader to recognize how we all are targets (and all complicit), how the monsters under his daughter’s bed – whether Nazis or climate change – are all too real. Which is to say this is not always a comfortable read, but it is a necessary one – one that expresses how language and memory matter, for otherwise we are left “not knowing who we are, without words, / without stories about where we came from / and the dream of where we’re going.” It also is hopeful, leaning into family and community “and how much more / we need each other to keep from drifting,” with “the only certain outcome: that everybody drifting toward / each other, faster and faster, will meet at the center.”
Praise for Michael T. Young & Mountain Climbing a River
Like the poet Langston Hughes, Michael T. Young has known rivers. Mighty and pocket sized, filled with stones perfect to give a young son, and imaginative tropes galore. He has also known oceans, waterfalls, a corporate life, a beloved family and endless mysteries. including clouds that have “found their way”; glaciers that “took detours to winter”. In his title poem, “Mountain Climbing a River,” Young writes, “But I have aged / into the lustrous ache of this river / a body of heavy churning, and wake / to the slowed currents of each morning.” And like Hughes and these lines from his poem about explaining the fleshy mountain-skin of the Hudson River to his son, his words are wide, broad, and muscular. Whether he is writing about family, rhythm in music (from Mahler to the B-52s), aging, the natural world, a naked man in the middle of 42nd Street or ghosts, he invites in an immense and bold river of imagery. These gobsmacking poems carry his reader along on a raft of intellectual and spiritual wanderings and they will leave you reeling, dizzy, aware of all language can do.
—Elizabeth Cohen, author of Mermaids of Albuquerque & the memoir The Family on Beartown Road
Michael Young’s poems are like the wings of an eagle expanding and compressing, taking the reader on a path that starts simply only to open to clouds of knowing; he understands that poets must see and hear hard. It is this visceral intensity that elevates his poetry and invites the reader to share experiences. The reader is moved to read, again and again, these most inviting poems.
—Bertha Rogers, author of What Want Brings
Informed by history, politics and faith, Michael T. Young crafts a powerful cry of grief and anger at the injustices of our society. “You can’t know what you forget,” the poet implores, urging us to stay aware of our individual roles in maintaining oppression.
—Michael Simms, author of Strange Meadowlark
About the Author
Mountain Climbing a River is Michael T. Young’s fourth collection. His third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for Living in the Counterpoint. He received honorable mention for the New Jersey Poets Prize in 2022. His poetry has been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac.