In David Beaumier’s debut collection The Mourning Fields (2025, Dark Forest Press), fifteen shorts chart us on a course of divine and deft illumination.

Starting in a state of loss–-immediately present in “Charon’s Crossing” through the final phrase of “Orpheus”–-we are then offered “Last Wish” as a bridge to transport us from deficit to discovery about what we may or may not want for ourselves and from others (“The Mourning Fields”, “Just Say Yes”). Finally, Beaumier’s collection arrives with true identity emergence, for better (“Kalanchoe”, “Siren”) and for worse (“The College Experience”, “Hera”). Shorts like “Theseus, Asterius”, “The White Pine”, and “Juliet on His Balcony” (best title ever?!) offer a centralized Fun & Games component that ensures this accomplished work is held as a whole, reminding the reader that these Greek god inspired tales are–-in their bones–-one complex map of the flawed but bright human condition. 

With myth as a vivid backdrop, Beaumier captures the light and dark of vital personhood by revealing how we mortals actually think, behave, harm, and heal. The journey through these stories reiterates again and again that we are all made up of stars and earth. In its moon-like fullness, The Mourning Fields is real and raw and achingly relevant. A stunning debut and a gift to all willing to see they have a bit of dirt on their shoes.

---

David Beaumier (he/they) is a 2024 Village Books Literary Citizenship Award Recipient, helms the Writers Corner Anthologies, and has been published in Inroads, Suffix, Psaltry & Lyre, Whatcom Writes, and HamLit.

Follow Rochelle on Goodreads HERE for raves and ratings.