[2] Dawson's first poetry collection, Big-Eyed Afraid (Waywiser Press, 2007), was selected for the 2006 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize by Mary Jo Salter and was named Best Debut of 2007 by the Contemporary Poetry Review.
[3][4] Her second collection, The Small Blades Hurt (Measure Press, 2014), won the 2016 Poets' Prize.
[5] A third collection, When Rap Spoke Straight to God, was published by Tin House Books in 2018.
[6] Dawson's poems have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including Barrow Street,[7] Blackbird,[4] and The Best American Poetry 2008, 2012, and 2015.
Stallings to have achieved "something like rock star status" among fellow New Formalist poets and poetry fans.