Roundtrip by Dawn Angelicca Barcelona

The poems in Dawn Angelicca Barcelona‘s debut chapbook, Roundtrip, invite the reader into the author’s experiences as she moves through the world. This intimate collection opens with “Woman Lost While Looking For Stars” where the author writes poignantly on the physical and emotional distance between a daughter and mother: “My mother warned me not to look up too quickly,/ the sun will bite, your neck might snap. She says don’t answer/ the door for anyone and this refrain pours onward,/ until my eyes are covered with stars.” What follows are poems that skillfully chronicle memory and place; childhood and family; loss and love. Penetrating images abound such as in Portrait in Sepia: “Cuttlefish shoot smokescreens/ then spend hours in hiding… Their blood—not quite red—/and ink—not quite black—” This is a poetic journey you’ll want to take.

—Maw Shein Win, Storage Unit for the Spirit House (Omnidawn)