The soul-searching poems in Larry Dunn's debut collection, A Beanie and A Cup of Tea, invite readers into a deeply personal journey that explores the mystery of life and death, the beauty of words as gift, and the power of sustaining love not fully known before the loss of his son, Seth.
Both introspective and transparent, Dunn writes with an unflinching style about the realities of unimaginable loss, his willingness to embrace the unknowable, and his renewed commitment to cherish life and those he loves.
In an honest portrayal of what it means to sit with the pain of loss, Dunn searches for ways to stay connected to his son within the "thin spaces" of these poems, "where mystery is / cloaked in beauty / and the line between / heaven and earth / collapses into love."
A Beanie and A Cup of Tea invites the reader into these spaces, extending a knowing embrace and giving voice to those whose lives are shaped by grief.
Larry A. Dunn is Professor of Peacemaking and Conflict Studies at Fresno Pacific University. He holds a PhD in social science at Syracuse University and has worked for over thirty-five years as a mediator, trainer, consultant, and educator in the field of conflict resolution. He is the author of Discovering Forgiveness: Pathways through Injury, Apology, and Healing (2014). Larry and his wife Susan have three boys, Seth, Eli, and Isaac, and live in Fresno, California.
“Does any human pain match the grief of losing one’s child? Larry Dunn’s poems about the death of his beloved son Seth echo and warp with deep feeling and understated intelligence. His determination to avoid both sentimentality and a predictable ‘healing’ narrative enriches a book that shows as well as tells—in Dunn’s words—that ‘poetry doesn’t only comfort the tortured soul; it gives voice to it.’”
—Jeff Gundy, author of Spoken Among the Trees
“I seldom read a book of poetry in one sitting, but this was an exception. Dunn’s poetry helps me access the places where my human understanding is inadequate, where the tangible meets the intangible. Whether we find ourselves collapsing into love—or, more often, perhaps, just collapsing—his poems spin out the delicate threads of hope that I need, and which I suspect we all do.”
—Hope Nisly, retired Librarian, Fresno Pacific University
“Larry Dunn notes there are only two things to write poems about: love and loss. He offers a 360-degree view of the deep love of a father for his son whom he loses too soon. His poetry, utilizing a variety of forms, is raw and achingly honest. His words are economical yet reveal a full story . . . . Dunn’s poetry flies straight from his heart to our own.”
—Fran Martens Friesen, Assistant Professor of English, Fresno Pacific University
“These raw, aching, tear-soaked, sometimes humorous, always love-drenched poems offer no wrapped-up-tight clichés on healing. These poems tell Dunn’s story that opens into our stories, that opens into the universal story of love and loss. Dunn speaks of poetry arriving to him as a gift—he has given us a gift.”
—Julia Baker-Swann, author of The Moon Is Always Whole
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