Poetry. A Tupelo Press First Book Award chosen by Carolyn Forche. Mississippi babies and Louisiana mommas, New York poster boys, Washington politicians, deformed sons and estranged daughters, examined by an extraordinary poet-doctor. WHEN THE EYE FORMS limns public health, gay themes, maternity, science, the South, Mississippi, Louisiana, Washington, America, and the Mississippi River. Dwaine Rieves, a doctor, practices public-health medicine in Washington, D.C. His poems have appeared in the Georgia Review, Callaloo, Chelsea, the Virginia Quarterly Review, and other publications. He has won a River Styx International Poetry Award.

Dwaine Rieves practices public health medicine in Washington, DC. A Mississippi native, he graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in 1979 and subsequently completed training in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, and n 2002, he was awarded a fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts.