"[Erato]’s “Daddy Issue” resolutely positions itself in the eye of grief. It forces the reader to confront the brutal unbeauty of love after loss, navigating the unmooring that is coming of age in the wake of a father’s sudden, untimely end. It explores what the child of a quote-unquote legend endures—the external wounding by those who, without right or understanding, insist on a piece of legacy, and the internal wound of being that legacy. Rather than attempting to resurrect a myth, these lines try instead to remember accurately— to give reverence to mourning in one’s own time, in one’s own way, forgiving what can be forgiven, and forgiving that not all can be. These poems reckon with the raw messiness of growing up under the wide wings of “po’try”, and trace the flight pattern of a somewhat wiser, but no more ready nor lighter an Icarus—forced to face the sun alone. They take honest stock of every emotion that loss brings. Though they tremble at times, the honesty within is potent, courageous, and powerful. The reader senses the poems occurred because they had to—but also that the writer is worthy of them. In terms of craft, the pieces are artful and deftly layered. A discerning reader will notice the imagery, allusion, and nuance present even in the simplest turns of phrase. Most of all, this book is a series of I love yous to Dad. It is heartbreaking, and it challenges— but it is also a gift: to be allowed witness to something so real, so vulnerable, and so confrontational in its humanity." - Drea