ith TheBook of Fall(1979), one of the "Report" books, Norris' development takes a great leap forward. For the third time he uses a book length structure and he finds his subjects in the news. This time, however, the book is more unified and much more complex. It begins at a milestone for twentieth century pop culture: on the day of Elvis Presley's death. By a coincidence, Norris is in Portland Maine, the town where Presley was to begin a national tour. lvis' death is the most public aspect of The Book of Fall'sobsession with loss and change. The time of year is, naturally, significant: "What we know of fall/is that it is beautiful/& it is the beauty/of stripping away" (21). As well as being preoccupied with and decay and falling apart, the book is also preoccupied with their opposites; consequently there are images of sunrises, and dreams, and love making. These opposites clash in the society, in nature, and in Norris himself as he tells the story of his spiritual (near) death and rebirth. "TheBook of Fallwas a confessional poem; I felt like I was stripping myself of my defenses, and a tree in fall losing its leaves seemed to be doing the same thing as I was. I felt as bare as the trees in fall, and I was consoling myself with the fact of an eventual spring" (Quarry90-91). Fall is the real, perishable world; spring the hope for perfection to come. But in this fallen world spring is just a phase, a stage on the road to decay: I have looked for the perfect & been endlessly disappointed finding only a finite changing world (44)