While I appreciate that this collection of prose poems and poems may have been cathartic for the author, it's not very good writing. There's an overflowing of constant flowery language and a sense of desperation in trying to create images, and ultimately not much of it coheres. There is so much repetition that words and phrases become less effective and meaningful and turn into a drone to be ignored. I wish the author had gone a few rounds with an editor--or, if they did, had been able and willing to edit to develop a more honed work.

Riddle Field: Poems by Derek Thomas Dew is the poet's award-winning collection of poetry. Dew Dew is the winner of the 2019 Test Site Poetry Prize. He has taught freestyle workshops in the California public schools, and his music and poetry are featured on the Oregon coast radio program Powerful Poetry through KCIW.

Riddle Field is a complex collection of poetry that does become clearer as the reader progresses through the collection. The reader is dropped in the without direction and must navigate his way by taking in and interpreting the two parallel streams of thought. One is of abuse, and the other is the effect of the destruction of a dam on a small town.

The poetry is not linear. The reader starts the collection in "Town in the Radio." It is a haunting poem and similar to a Morrisonesque "The End." While that might be a coincidence, later in the collection, there is a familiar line for the Soft Parade album. Themes reoccur through the collection: music, Spanish guitar, cracks in stone, orange peels, bicycles, Walter, helicopters, and secrets. The release of emotion and the release of pent up water parallel each other.

The overall effect is eerie and unknowing. For much of the collection, the reader is not only trying to interpret a stream of consciousness but two simultaneously. The poetry is not easy, but it can be rewarding. A good contemporary parallel would be the work of Eric Linsker. Overall a complex mix of avant-garde poetry that will need more than a single sitting despite its small size.

trigger warning
<spoiler> miscarriage, use of the slur gypsie </spoiler>

I've been getting into poetry again lately, so I though hey, this looks nice! Let's give it a try.
To my dismay, I have not liked this collection of poems.

The first half felt as if dices had been thrown to determine where to put a sentence, this got better in the second half. I even got a feeling for the setting quite a few of these poems share, a small town by a dam, where life is tied to simple things that don't change from generation to generation.

I don't really get the use of the term girl for young women, though this author is not the only person who's guilty of this. What I liked best about this is the cover and the empty pages that meant quick reading.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.