Praise Song for My Children review in Presence

May 14, 2023

Thanks to Presence and Kathleen O’Toole for the review of Patricia Jabbeh Wesley’s new and selected poetry collection, Praise Song for My Childrenin their newest issue. Of the collection, Kathleen writes:

More than once, I found myself asking why these poems seem so necessary and what propelled me through the grim details of violence in Liberia. This poet indeed offers us, with authority and grace, a way of navigating the complexity of a country whose history is yoked to our own. Her poems urge me to know these histories, not just the fragments which may flicker among headlines, especially now, with so many of the African diaspora as our neighbors, fellow church goers and poets, who, as Wesley’s poems remind us, also bear the weight of unhealed racial wounds in the United States.

We hope you’ll consider picking up a copy of the issue here to read the full review as well as other quality pieces.

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