Year of the Dog (American Poets Continuum, 178)

Year of the Dog is an experimental collection of poems by the poet Deborah Paredez, that she created new relative states and perspectives on the inner world of the speaker, some mythical or symbolic characters which were returned to the structure of the present in a postmodern context and the aesthetic performative functions of the body as a rich symbol which implied to the original and virginal ancient feelings of human history, such as searching for the basic self freedom, the deep cognition of pain or tragic moments and the creative performance in everyday life.

Consequently, the author wanted, in her poetic discourse, to redraw the concept of the individual identity , its metaphoric voices and the new experimental space in the daily scenes, that she imported the tragedies of Hecuba, Llorona and the mystic weeping woman in a real scene to reveal the renewing spectral images of the past in the present. So, we can recognize a creative intersexuality.

On the other hand, the discourse implied to the transformations of the old signs, which included originality, pain, screams and the joy of their other existence in consciousness and unconsciousness of the speaker.

Moreover, the poet, in the poem Self Portrait of The Dog, evoked a wide and rich cosmic image of the speaker, that this image included a cosmic imaginary pregnancy, and it had the other representative name and life of Hecuba in another moment of history. Therefore, we can recognize some shining and tragic tones behind the voice. Also, we can notice an interpretative poetic language which recreated the subject in the context of the interaction between the cultural powers behind the structure of the present. In this context, I remembered the concept of the narrative Identity according to Paul Ricœur, that the poet retold the relative life of the speaker according to the cosmic, real and mythical new symbols which represented the personal ego in the poetic tale.

Moreover, the poet implied to some experimental signs, such as the hand and the small body of the daughter of the speaker, that each sign was formed in many cross contexts, and roles. So, the hand, in the poem Armature, reflected the individual, the power, the social state and the performative state. also, the daughter, in Self Portrait in the Time of Disaster, reflected the unconscious intention of being out, the general human freedom, pain, sympathy and imaginary adventure.