Late to the Search Party: Poems

by Steven Espada Dawson

A raw, crystalline debut poetry collection exploring themes of family, addiction, belonging, and loss—a searching elegy of the fissures that have come to define contemporary American life.

The unsettled border between absence and presence haunts this stunning collection, in which poet laureate Steven Espada Dawson contemplates belonging, identity, family, and grief in poems about his own half-immigrant Mexican American his dying mother who raised him, his addict brother who has been missing for more than a decade, and his absent father.

Chronicled in four parts, shifting restlessly between childhood memories, the sudden disappearance of his brother, and the inevitable loss of his ailing mother, Late to the Search Party explores what it means to be a family of one—to be orphaned, whether by fate or by circumstance. In language that is both grounded and ethereal, Dawson tallies the losses and looks at what the frustration and anger, the bewilderment and sadness—and the affection and humor that makes itself felt in spite of everything.

A vivid and thoughtful meditation on love and loss, Late to the Search Party is an ode to the families that inspire and confound us all.

Genres: Poetry, Audiobook

96 pages, Paperback

Published May 6, 2025

Reviews

[Roxane]

How do you carry your family with you when you're the only one who has survived the furies of life? That impossible question drives this debut poetry collection. In these exquisitely crafted elegies, Steven Espada Dawson writes of how addiction and absence and illness and grief can become a new center of gravity. The poems in Late to the Search Party, stitch together the memories of a family torn apart by circumstance, with threads of beauty, joy, rage and undying love.

[Bilen]

"WHAT I HATE MOST ABOUT MOM
is her dying. How these days
I’m busy reckoning
how to make a family
from just one man."

[Taylor]

"I want so badly to write words / with a future attached." - Every Word is My Mothers

"We're under the same moon and I'm sick / with that knowing." - Elegy for the Four Chambers of My Brother's Heart

A stunning debut collection! I was in awe of every poem, marking each as a favorite to return to. It is a collection of elegies for those dead and alive, of looking for/at, of building a childhood, and of loss and love. I particularly found the elegies a stunning set of poems. The title poem-- "Late to the Search Party" is a feat!

thanks to netgalley for the arc!

[Amber]

ARC gifted by the publisher

Heartfelt poetries with themes of fractured families. With a rhythmic style full of vivid imagery, Dawson writes about his dying mother, his addict brother missing for a decade, and his absent father. This collection has a great balance between abstract poetry and straightforward writing that preserves the beauty of the genre while not obscuring the message. Dawson shares his rumination of hope, grief, and disappointments, while never losing the gentleness between the lines. A wondrous collection that made me tear up. Highly recommend for poetry lovers!

[Ayesha]

Debut?

My man’s gifted through and through. Excellent, raw, emotional collection of poetry. Would recommend ♾️/10!!

[b]

man o man, this beautiful collection. saw steven read for pub day a month or so ago – one of the first times i've cried at a reading. cheers to that. his strength in brevity, tightness is commendably admirable.

[JP]

“For a moment, you are famous. Even God / is looking for you.”

Wholly heartbreaking, almost too bright of an emotional light, like looking at the sun. I love Dawson’s ability to capture the dissonance of “every ugly-beautiful thing” as he says.

[Salty Swift]

An unsettling, poignant and humane prose collection that focuses on addiction, family with a heavy dose of loss. Stunning debut from a poet laureate I'm dying to hear from again soon.

[Katie]

fantastic collection, some of the best poems I’ve read in a while. the one about comparing medical diagnoses to fruit (orchid) left me speechless, and i’ll think about it often. really good use of line breaks, form, and structure that i appreciated! the poems about his brother are just devastating - definitely a collection i want to keep in my library to reread and undercover new meanings each time

[Anthony Immergluck]

A future classic. Easily one of the most soulful and lovingly crafted poetry collections I've read in the past decade, debut or otherwise. If you have even a passing interest in contemporary poetry, you've got to read this before the crowds show up and the line gets too long. You will be deeply moved, engrossed, and inspired. I promise.

[Courtney LeBlanc]

A collection of poems about family, identity, addiction, loss, and survival.

from From the Window, My Gowned Mother Salvages the Landscape: "and convinces herself the smog sunset is natural. / You can only see this purple here, she says, / that four-knuckles sky, the same purple as bruises."

from Caldera: "There is no body to bury. I explain this / to my therapist, ask if a decade is long / enough to declare my brother legally dead— // ask how there can be grief without wisdom / teeth, cracked sternum, caution tape. / Mom says Brian doesn't have a heart // worth hating, says heroin slipped hi quick through the family's tourniquet."

from The German Word for Hospital is Sick House: "In my dreams / wind chimes / spell a word I can't pronounce. // Your death the wind. I cannot point to it. / I can point to everything it moves."

[Ro]

an incredible collection. genuinely breathtaking. this is the fourteenth full collection i've read this year and it stands out.

i picked it up while i was in toronto, at the eaton center. i had read the second last poem of the collection (ars poetica with passing hailstorm) a couple months ago in an issue of muzzle magazine. it stuck with me after i read it then, and it continues to stick with me now. as does the rest of the collection.

the images are just so vivid, novel, and precise. what do you mean a bit of your childhood dies watching a hand up cookie monsters' ass?? god that is just. ahhhhhh. like i read a line like that, littered all throughout and i have to sit down to process it. i can't tell you how much i wished i came up with that line.

[Lindsey]

--Much of this collection reflects on the death of his mother by cancer and his brother (lost/missing for 10+ years)
--Profound sense of yearning - for more time with his loved ones and a continued sense of connection
--Short poems.- most are one page or less
--Vibes: an elegy that stretches across the pages

Poetry collections are hard for me to rate -- in this case, I didn't relate to the poetry, and so it didn't resonate deeply with me, but that doesn't mean it's a failure. I did find it very accessible!

Thanks to Scribner for a free review copy of this book.

[Doubra Ari]

Over the years, I’ve engaged with poetry in parts, but never a full body of work. This is my first time and it didn’t disappoint. “Late To The Search Party” packs a mean punch. It’s addresses grief, addiction, love, loss in its pages. It shows you how it feels to be uprooted in a world where you were a forest of trees. Or to be a flower petal no longer attached to its stalk. Lost, lonely with the memories of people who would never call your name again or celebrate your birthday. It’s like losing a language. Such a beautiful but sad debut. Everyone should read this.

[M]

It didn't make me cry which is far worse. This collection left me perturbed on some level deep inside my heart that I didn't expect these words would reach.

Maybe not all of us could exactly say we had the same case in our families. However, I think everyone can relate to this book in the sense of how deeply we worry, grieve and miss our loved ones, whatever the reason they were taken from us.

[Susan L. L.]

Steven Espada Dawson's LATE TO THE SEARCH PARTY (Scribner) is a collection I've been anticipating and one that offers tender elegies for a mother and brother, as well as elegies for a self navigating the world alone. These poems teach us what it's like to feel around for love in an (un)familiar room, to know love is there even when it cannot be apprehended. On a personal level, the brother poems resonated deeply, and l am grateful for them, and comforted too. 10/10 recommend!

[Sam Hughes]

Gosh, this one a toughy. I so enjoy reflections on family youth and hardship within poetic collections and this one hit the nail right on the head. I am so appreciative to Scribner books, Simon audio, and Steven Espada Dawson for granting me advanced physical and audio access to this heartbreaker before it hits shelves on May 6, 2025.

[K]

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

I'm at a loss to express how phenomenal this collection is. Steven Espada Dawson engages with language and emotion in innovative and powerful ways. What a fantastic debut—poems like these are what keeps the genre alive.

[Ciara]

Thank you Scribner for the gifted copy!

This was beautiful. I didn't resonate with it as much of this poetry is about his mother and brother - but I still loved reading it. I can't rate poetry as I don't read much of it but I felt it was really accessible for anyone who wants to start!

[emery]

i am drawing my brother now, here, in the only way
that is safe for me.
he is moving toward me, quickly.
i am flexing.

…

An absolutely astounding debut collection, demanding of so so so much emotion. I feel and feel and feel, with so much circling in my brain over these poems. Truly unearthing.

[Coby Vandenberg]

Heartbreaking. So extremely raw and yet so carefully sculpted, every letter feels like it’s been plucked out and lowered carefully into place on the page. It took me awhile to get through this collection because every second poem made me put down the book. Wondrous pain.

[Chloe Amelia]

Dawson writes with such ease and grace, even when the words are absolutely cutting. This was a beautiful book of poems, albeit devastating. Themes of addiction are explored in a completely new way, which at times feels jarring--but I appreciate the authors exploration of this topic, and the grief every person holds in their body when they love an addict.

[Iara Moure]

No se que decir, creo que esperaba mas. Cuando una lee bastante poesia en un periodo corto de tiempo, se vuelve todo un poco mas repetitivo

[Holly Armitage]

So gorgeous. I savored these poems. The use of language is so creative.

[Nessa Bleill]

saddest poems i’ve ever read

[Jordan Lea]

Beautiful and haunting

[Alex]

heartbreakingly gorgeous

[jess di angelo]

i am just so in awe. what a wonderful selection of poems

[Heather]

I discovered this book on accident and WOW. I am so grateful. What a talent.