Big-Eyed Afraid
Big-Eyed Afraid by Erica Dawson, published by Between the Lines on November 15, 2007, is a collection of poetry that showcases the author’s unique voice and perspective. This first book presents a blend of humor and poignancy as Dawson explores her own identity through a variety of poetic forms, including the rondeau and ballade. With 104 pages, the work reflects a balance of formal skill and contemporary language, inviting readers into a deeply personal introspection.
In Big-Eyed Afraid, readers will encounter a series of nickname poems that reveal the complexities of personal, cultural, and intellectual identities. Dawson’s exploration is marked by references to figures such as Freud and Puccini, as she navigates themes of self-discovery and contradiction. The collection oscillates between lyrical beauty and stark honesty, offering a rich tapestry of emotions and reflections. Through her innovative use of language and form, Dawson crafts a compelling narrative that confronts the realities of existence under a “blue leaded sun.”
Official synopsis Publisher
“In Big-Eyed Afraid, a first book of genuine originality, Erica Dawson turns the mirror held up to nature on herself. Both humorous and heart-wrenching, Dawson balances formal adroitness with a 21st-century colloquial idiom modulating between demotic and mandarin registers, a voice all her own. Employing numerous forms, including the rondeau, ballade, rhyme royal and her own adaptation of the In Memoriam stanza, Dawson elevates the self only to see it combust into pieces of broken character, an arch of introspection signalled by the book’s opening and ending series of nickname poems, including “Nappyhead,” “Mommy Dearest,” and “DrugFace,” where contradictions of personal, cultural, and intellectual identities are exposed. In between, Dawson completes the case history, calling on everyone from Freud and Puccini to Rita Hayworth and James Brown while craftily moving between rhyme’s mellifluous voice and that of a frighteningly self-effacing honesty: “…search high for your halo and penance / And a murder of crows and your birthday’s sentence.” Yet for every stanza spent in Dawson’s mind, each page of Big-Eyed Afraid opens up to face and find shade from reality’s “blue leaded sun burning its shine too strong.”
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