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This Is Our Secret
Eric Williamson's first book in his signature poetry chapbook series breathes with desperation and longing while buoyed in hope and forgiveness. "This Is Our Secret," Book 1 in a 3-book arc is a great jumping-on point to this poet, writer, and comic book creator's work.
The poems traverse the bittersweet terrain of love and heartache, from passionate intimacy to painful dissolution. Through candid snapshots and internal monologues, the collection unveils our paradoxical yearnings for both freedom and belonging. The verses give voice to the turbulence beneath seeming calm, reminding us that no matter how we fracture, our shared humanity persists.
Raw yet comforting, these poems whisper wisdom into the shadows of our inner lives. Let this collection be the diary of your own heart – affirming that even when our attempts at love fall short, redemption is nonetheless possible.
"Eric Williamson’s poems take us on a ride through beginnings and endings, moments of both tenderness and despair. The author strikes a balance in this collection — that hard-to-pin-down variety of styles hanging together as a cohesive whole. It keeps the reader engaged, wondering a bit about what’s next, but also comfortable that the journey is taking them somewhere worthwhile. "This Is Our Secret" offers us an intimate view of moving in, moving out, and moving on."
— Aaron Lelito, Editor in Chief of Wild Roof Journal
The poems traverse the bittersweet terrain of love and heartache, from passionate intimacy to painful dissolution. Through candid snapshots and internal monologues, the collection unveils our paradoxical yearnings for both freedom and belonging. The verses give voice to the turbulence beneath seeming calm, reminding us that no matter how we fracture, our shared humanity persists.
Raw yet comforting, these poems whisper wisdom into the shadows of our inner lives. Let this collection be the diary of your own heart – affirming that even when our attempts at love fall short, redemption is nonetheless possible.
"Eric Williamson’s poems take us on a ride through beginnings and endings, moments of both tenderness and despair. The author strikes a balance in this collection — that hard-to-pin-down variety of styles hanging together as a cohesive whole. It keeps the reader engaged, wondering a bit about what’s next, but also comfortable that the journey is taking them somewhere worthwhile. "This Is Our Secret" offers us an intimate view of moving in, moving out, and moving on."
— Aaron Lelito, Editor in Chief of Wild Roof Journal
51 pages, Paperback
Published July 8, 2023
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About the author
Eric Williamson
4 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 4, 2023
What's not a secret? Eric Williamson is loquacious AF, and he's not asking you to feel your feels. This provocative performance of profound pathos is prepared to puncture your psyche! You will feel your feels whether you like it or not. (The affinity for alliteration is mine; the Author's charming idiosyncrasies his own... though I do detect the occasional hint of E.E. Cummings inspiration in the playfulness of his syntactic structure, the crafting of negative space within some compositions, and the intentional use / omission of punctuation.)
Chapbook: "a small pamphlet containing tales, ballads, or tracts, sold by peddlers; a small paperback booklet, typically containing poems or fiction." See Also: a worthwhile follow-up to "Miscreant" Issue Zero demonstrating the gravitas of Williamson's words without the benefit of supplemental illustration.
Poetry is personal. We extract meanings that inform, subvert, or mirror the life experiences we understand at the moment of our engagement with the writing. Given enough time between encounters, even of the same material, one may recognize layers of insight previously undisclosed (This is Our Secret? It easily warrants more than a single read-through). The series of poems read both as a linear [or nonlinear] progression of interwoven life events, or as individual case studies of human relationships. Dealer's Choice.
Eric gifted the Reader seventeen (17) carefully curated curios to consider; for each I'll distill my Review to a single word capturing my mindset in this moment (and two for "Tenacious Orbit," my favorite selection): Triality... Despondence... Tremulous... Compassion... Abandonment... Hope... Suppression... Enamorment... Sensational Annihilation... Dependence... Enough... Solace... Alacrity... Voracious... Acceptance... Withdrawal... Sincerity.
One final takeaway is the value in recognizing the delicacy, and the beauty in simple joys; those fleeting moments of serenity amongst universal entropy. For me, there's the pride that comes with possessing a signed, numbered, first edition. I eagerly await Chapbook Series II.
Chapbook: "a small pamphlet containing tales, ballads, or tracts, sold by peddlers; a small paperback booklet, typically containing poems or fiction." See Also: a worthwhile follow-up to "Miscreant" Issue Zero demonstrating the gravitas of Williamson's words without the benefit of supplemental illustration.
Poetry is personal. We extract meanings that inform, subvert, or mirror the life experiences we understand at the moment of our engagement with the writing. Given enough time between encounters, even of the same material, one may recognize layers of insight previously undisclosed (This is Our Secret? It easily warrants more than a single read-through). The series of poems read both as a linear [or nonlinear] progression of interwoven life events, or as individual case studies of human relationships. Dealer's Choice.
Eric gifted the Reader seventeen (17) carefully curated curios to consider; for each I'll distill my Review to a single word capturing my mindset in this moment (and two for "Tenacious Orbit," my favorite selection): Triality... Despondence... Tremulous... Compassion... Abandonment... Hope... Suppression... Enamorment... Sensational Annihilation... Dependence... Enough... Solace... Alacrity... Voracious... Acceptance... Withdrawal... Sincerity.
One final takeaway is the value in recognizing the delicacy, and the beauty in simple joys; those fleeting moments of serenity amongst universal entropy. For me, there's the pride that comes with possessing a signed, numbered, first edition. I eagerly await Chapbook Series II.
September 13, 2023
Eric Williamson's first chapbook in his miniseries definitely creates some building blocks. By the time I finished reading, I could tell this was only the beginning. This was the start of a longer piece/story told through poetry. Each poem feels like a snapshot in an album, one piece to the puzzle, and remains a cohesive work. These poems sound great read-aloud, as every line is like little drops for your tongue to follow. Follow the trail of crumbs to the end and you'll get closer to the "secret." My favorite poems in this collection were: "They Are For Now," "We Stole This Time To Talk," and "Tenacious Orbit."
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews