In Patricia Jabbeh Wesley's fourth collection of poems, she continues her lyric exploration of what it is to be a survivor and an immigrant.
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Wesley possesses a distinctive, lyrical gift of the highest order.... The emotional appeal of her poetry is direct and accessible. She also has a dramatic gift and a masterly command of place. --Robert H. Brown, Liberian Studies Journal
In this her fourth volume, I witness Patricia Jabbeh Wesley courageously dipping her pen into her own wound and splashing vivid imagery upon the canvas of her own skin. That is an illusion, for that pen is really a scalpel cutting the gangrenous and the rotten out of her nation's violated flesh. But that too is an illusion. That scalpel is a steel tongue in a powerful Grebo woman's mouth weaving a fine gauze from dirges, love songs, praise songs, fragments of aphoristic wisdom, fables, new myths, narrative and lyrical dialogues in order to bind our own wounded psyches. Proud Grebo women's voices burst through her mouth to chastise depraved men who harvest babies to stoke diamond wars as they blaze through forests of dry human bones in their imported death chariots. Beyond celebrating these fiery taboo-breaking warrior women who are passionate about peace, justice, their right to forbidden fantasies, she also claims her place, though exiled, in the lineage. Condemned to bear upon her back her home, she is the strong earthen vessel that safeguards the essential spiritual Grebo values bequeathed to her by the village elders in a circle. Because moving is never a leaving, memories of home constantly surge through the poet's wry humor and wit that serve as balm for the ever-nagging pain. To honor her ancestors' memories Wesley has planted these enduring trees whose fruits must nourish us all if we are willing to avail ourselves of her poetic gifts. These are brave and fearless poems in a harsh dark season, yet necessary for the witness they bear to human folly while insisting on our capacity to love. With each new volume, her voice grows stronger as it blends with those of Ama Ata Aidoo, Alda do Espirito Santo, and Jeni Couzyn. She is without doubt among the most powerful of the younger generation of African poets. --Frank M. Chipasula, editor, Bending the Bow: An Anthology of African Poetry/ co-editor of The Heinemann Book of African Women's Poetry
In this her fourth volume, I witness Patricia Jabbeh Wesley courageously dipping her pen into her own wound and splashing vivid imagery upon the canvas of her own skin. That is an illusion, for that pen is really a scalpel cutting the gangrenous and the rotten out of her nation's violated flesh. But that too is an illusion. That scalpel is a steel tongue in a powerful Grebo woman's mouth weaving a fine gauze from dirges, love songs, praise songs, fragments of aphoristic wisdom, fables, new myths, narrative and lyrical dialogues in order to bind our own wounded psyches. Proud Grebo women's voices burst through her mouth to chastise depraved men who harvest babies to stoke diamond wars as they blaze through forests of dry human bones in their imported death chariots. Beyond celebrating these fiery taboo-breaking warrior women who are passionate about peace, justice, their right to forbidden fantasies, she also claims her place, though exiled, in the lineage. Condemned to bear upon her back her home, she is the strong earthen vessel that safeguards the essential spiritual Grebo values bequeathed to her by the village elders in a circle. Because moving is never a leaving, memories of home constantly surge through the poet's wry humor and wit that serve as balm for the ever-nagging pain. To honor her ancestors' memories Wesley has planted these enduring trees whose fruits must nourish us all if we are willing to avail ourselves of her poetic gifts. These are brave and fearless poems in a harsh dark season, yet necessary for the witness they bear to human folly while insisting on our capacity to love. With each new volume, her voice grows stronger as it blends with those of Ama Ata Aidoo, Alda do Espirito Santo, and Jeni Couzyn. She is without doubt among the most powerful of the younger generation of African poets. --Frank M. Chipasula, editor, Bending the Bow: An Anthology of African Poetry/ co-editor of The Heinemann Book of African Women's Poetry
About the Author
A Liberian civil war survivor, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley is the author of three previous books of poetry: The River is Rising, Becoming Ebony, and Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa. Her awards include a World Bank Fellowship, a Crystal Award 2006, and the Liberian Award for her documentation of the Liberian civil war experience in poetry. Her work has been anthologized in Europe, South America, Africa, and in the United States. She teaches Creative Writing and Literature at Penn State's Altoona campus.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Turn in Search of Grace and Healing,
By A. Christopher Hammon (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Where the Road Turns (Perfect Paperback)
Review by Ann Bellinger Hammon: Gathering the bones of the dead is a common tradition throughout world history and across cultures. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley has been gathering the bones of her family, the people of Liberia, through four volumes of poetry. Her sorrow for her war-torn homeland has spilled from her pen as if she had opened a vein and let her blood flow freely.She's trying to tell the stories of a people ruined by brutal civil war, and what remains are scattered bones. The first three books, Before the Palm Could Bloom, Becoming Ebony, and The River Is Rising, are almost a parallel to the ugliness Liberia lived with for over fourteen years: stories almost screaming for mercy, stark and unyielding. Ms. Wesley does the seemingly impossible in finding a way to allow those whose voices are stilled or too quiet for Western ears to hear tell what has happened to their lives. War is hell, and I feel the flames licking at me as I read the cries of humans trying to remain human in the middle of one of the most terrible civil wars in modern times. Where the Road Turns shifts focus. The blood-letting seems to have slowed, and though the pain of living with incredible loss both here and in Liberia remains evident, she has turned toward a search for grace and healing. The first three books held memories wonderful and life-giving, along with a recent past almost too much to bear. The sequence of stories here hold muted sadness, quieter sorrow, and lean toward hope. To read these four books is to understand assimilation, maturity, acceptance. Ms. Wesley writes about more than her homeland. Her verses about the connections between men and women have a poignancy that even the inevitable disconnection can not equal. A song/poem for Barak Obama on his election made my heart dance. I loved seeing New Orleans, my father's home, through non-native eyes. The vagaries of aging are too familiar, as are the inevitabilities of change, and learning to let go of things, places, and people. I grew up in a Liberia much earlier than the events written about in these books, even though the memories are ones i can relate to. The familiarity of her words brings tears to my eyes of joy and sorrow. I am thankful for the skill and passion of Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, and grateful beyond measure that she seeks to gather the bones of her people, and help heal her Motherland.
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Where The Road Turns" will blow you away.,
This review is from: Where the Road Turns (Perfect Paperback)
"Where the Road Turns" is one of my favorite books of poems by Patricia Jabbeh Wesley. The author seems to presents her ideas in a uniquely universal manner. She manages to captivate my attention and transports it internationally by addressing different cultural issues in a rather poetic fashion. Although she is a woman of color, she addresses contemporary issues affecting all races and every strata of life in this book. Her poetic style is unique as it is a blend of African languages and ideas that present the reader with a new understanding of the world through the lens of an African woman. It is a wonderful poetic work and I highly recommend you get a copy.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book review of Patricia Jabbeh Wesley's Where the Road Turns,
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This review is from: Where the Road Turns (Perfect Paperback)
Patricia Jabbeh Wesley's Where the Road Turns is "chicken soup for your soul." You come away from the collection with a spirit of steel. Once you get on her road of words, you are mesmerised by the stories she weaves. The reader, like a child sitting under the moonlight in an African village, becomes spell-bound by them. Some poems reveal the brutal reality of war, others teach us about Grebo culture and the role of the dead in the life of the living. She shares life-lessons and teaches us to laugh at our misery. The wisdom, she has earned during her perilous journey to safety from Liberia to the USA, is revealed in most of her poems. At the end of the book, she returns you to your world, wishes you good night and leaves you with her blessings. Long poems are best suited to this poet/story teller. One feels cheated by her shorter poems. They are concise but their messages are however equally strong and valuable.
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