Winner of the 2019 Interim Test Site Poetry Series Prize

"Dew is an exciting and complex new voice in contemporary poetry." —Publisher's Weekly
 
The beautifully crafted poems in Riddle Field explore two parallel themes, the impact of the impending destruction of a dam on a small town and the trauma of sexual abuse and eventual recovery from it. This work focuses on the environment, human and physical, in which the loss of nature and innocence is born and calls attention to the many ways we create both intimacy and distance when trauma is hidden or denied. Derek Thomas Dew’s language is harsh, honest, and sometimes heartbreaking. His poems capture the confusion and fatigue that must be navigated for a victim of abuse to piece himself back together and the internal strife that comes with carry-ing a traumatic secret that can no longer be ignored. 

Rich with unforgettable images and the quiet strength of hard-won survival, Riddle Field tackles the complex process of achieving self-awareness and recovery in the wake of profound trauma.
 

Derek Thomas Dew poems have appeared in Interim, Twyckenham Notes, The Maynard, The Curator, Two Hawks Quarterly, and Hawaii Pacific Review. He lives in Oregon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 

PART I.

Town in the Radio 10
Mainland 12
Far From Walter 13
Wet Down 14
Old Carver 15
Confluence 16
Yellow Corner 17
The Nameless 18
Winchuck 19

PART II.

I’m Walter 21
Baby Prince 22
Articles 23
He Ring 24
Grin Burnt 25
Little Bread 26
Last November’s Burn 27
The Mermaid Club 28
Soft Thieves 29
Blue Masking Tape 30


PART III.

Gambit 32
Big Drown 34
Inosculation 35
Short Leg 36
Border Huts 37
Low Bite 38
From Trains 39
My Helicopters 40
Light Us Down     41
That Clapping 42
Cat Root 43
Ring Up Dawn 44


PART IV.

Griddle Six 46
Liar’s Dice 47
Tunnel Music 48
Watchcoat 49
Ducksing 50
Placeholder 51
Trouble Knuckle 52
Elkstone 53
The Allowance 54
Cairn 55
Topples Cake 56

 
PART V.

Between Churches 58
Land That Knows Hands 59
Cursorial 60
Reliquary 1 61
Reliquary 2 62
Reliquary 3 63
Reliquary 4 64
Very 66

Afterward 68
Notes 69

"2019 Test Site Poetry Series Winner"--cover.