What happens when our foundational sorrows are allowed to sing? VOZ’s cinematic poems tunnel across time and place, to an era when parents failed to parent and the speaker “became the state of / California—like a planked pier leaning over the Pacific….” Exploring a range of forms, including haibun and the charismatic “saturation,” Jean channels potent musical references while holding space for her own idiosyncratic voice, which ultimately turns its attentions from past to future. This is an astonishing collection, one that I read over and over in gratitude.
-Sandra Beasley, author of Made to Explode
“The poems in Jennifer Jean’s new collection VOZ are a wonderful amalgamation of intelligent and historically aware formal pressures intertwined with an irrepressible joie de vivre animating the language and imagery (even when their subjects are difficult). The work here has such a living pulse, such clarity and warmth and ease in its expression, that I hungered for more by the end. A really wonderful book that all lovers of contemporary poetry will be happy to have in their collections.”
-Erin Belieu, author of Come-hither Honeycomb
With artful gusto, Jennifer Jean dispels that fictive conceit of an artist’s singular voice by braiding instead a great polyphony of songs and tales in her compelling VOZ. These sixteen vivid poems—these amp-driven “saturations” and “arrhythmic stylings”—are a thrilling mashup of family narratives, slangy idioms, and an ongoing concert, if you can believe it, of such troubadours as Bob Seger, Madeleine Peyroux, and Amalia Rodrigues, the great Portuguese fadista. What a show! And what a medley of memories: “My father leapt on stage at the Hollywood Bowl / to grab drum and cymbal sticks / from a star….” Here we encounter the Mamas & the Papas covering haibun, and the poet cruising the beaches of adolescent California, even as “Tinker Bell [gets] flushed / down the funnest toilet ever.” So much pizzazz meets such formally elastic intricacy: the result in VOZ is a deeply moving memoir, ranging from early memories of foster care to the full-throated, digitally mastered mixtape of one poet’s realized life.
-David Baker, author of Whale Fall
-Sandra Beasley, author of Made to Explode
“The poems in Jennifer Jean’s new collection VOZ are a wonderful amalgamation of intelligent and historically aware formal pressures intertwined with an irrepressible joie de vivre animating the language and imagery (even when their subjects are difficult). The work here has such a living pulse, such clarity and warmth and ease in its expression, that I hungered for more by the end. A really wonderful book that all lovers of contemporary poetry will be happy to have in their collections.”
-Erin Belieu, author of Come-hither Honeycomb
With artful gusto, Jennifer Jean dispels that fictive conceit of an artist’s singular voice by braiding instead a great polyphony of songs and tales in her compelling VOZ. These sixteen vivid poems—these amp-driven “saturations” and “arrhythmic stylings”—are a thrilling mashup of family narratives, slangy idioms, and an ongoing concert, if you can believe it, of such troubadours as Bob Seger, Madeleine Peyroux, and Amalia Rodrigues, the great Portuguese fadista. What a show! And what a medley of memories: “My father leapt on stage at the Hollywood Bowl / to grab drum and cymbal sticks / from a star….” Here we encounter the Mamas & the Papas covering haibun, and the poet cruising the beaches of adolescent California, even as “Tinker Bell [gets] flushed / down the funnest toilet ever.” So much pizzazz meets such formally elastic intricacy: the result in VOZ is a deeply moving memoir, ranging from early memories of foster care to the full-throated, digitally mastered mixtape of one poet’s realized life.
-David Baker, author of Whale Fall
Description:
“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake,” said Fredrick Douglas about the abolitionist movement in 1852. Jennifer Jean’s latest collection OBJECT LESSON answers this call to action as it explores sex-trafficking and objectification in twenty-first century America. Jean uses relentless, dire, vital language—often tinged with hope—to pull us into these latest, darkest stories of our homeland. Her intensely crafted lyric narratives and persona poems are based on poetry workshops with sex-trafficking survivors through the Free2Write Poetry program. Other pieces are based on in-person, or researched, interviews with survivors of what is definitively modern-day slavery. "
“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake,” said Fredrick Douglas about the abolitionist movement in 1852. Jennifer Jean’s latest collection OBJECT LESSON answers this call to action as it explores sex-trafficking and objectification in twenty-first century America. Jean uses relentless, dire, vital language—often tinged with hope—to pull us into these latest, darkest stories of our homeland. Her intensely crafted lyric narratives and persona poems are based on poetry workshops with sex-trafficking survivors through the Free2Write Poetry program. Other pieces are based on in-person, or researched, interviews with survivors of what is definitively modern-day slavery. "
"Jennifer Jean’s OBJECT LESSON is a book where listening is as equally important as observing; the power of this amazing collection rests with how the ear collects and shifts through the rough and tumble facts, and lands, not as bleak non-fiction, but as arresting, lyrical truth. OBJECT LESSON is a record of trust won, respected and honored. Jennifer Jean has written a book where women get to look us in the eye. "
-Cornelius Eady, The War Against the Obvious
-Cornelius Eady, The War Against the Obvious
"In OBJECT LESSON, Jennifer Jean explores human-trafficking, objectification, pain, and survival with compassion, respect, and as a witness to women. This powerful and stunning collection dives deep [into] stories where what is wounded is holy, is important, is surviving... This is an important book... These voices need to be heard and Jean’s poems need to be in the world."
-Kelli Russell Agodon, Dialogues with Rising Tides
-Kelli Russell Agodon, Dialogues with Rising Tides
"The world often fosters a compounded form of victimization by controlling the narrative of the afflicted and by shying away from a deeply adequate and deserving interrogation of their pain. It takes a dedicated and compassionate pen to bring such poignant stories to light and Jennifer Jean has done so in this magnificent collection. In OBJECT LESSON, Jean offers a delicate balance of truth and tension that arises from a deep and necessary explication of firsthand accounts about abuse and human trafficking. Her voice echoes the heart-wrenching experiences of those who have survived some of the worst that humankind has to offer and also serves as a staunch reminder about the marginalized and often forgotten 'constant, gorgeous / soul of us. The eyes of us, the Thriving.' This is a must read."
-Enzo Silon Surin, author of When My Body Was A Clinched Fist
-Enzo Silon Surin, author of When My Body Was A Clinched Fist
Description:
Writing is a powerful tool that can foster healing as well as empathy. OBJECT LESSON: A GUIDE TO WRITING POETRY, by Jennifer Jean, invites writers to practice these possibilities—as well as to understand the fundamental building blocks of poetry so that each poem they create becomes its best self. Jean accomplishes this by discussing the creative process behind each poem in her collection OBJECT LESSON—which explores the lives of sex-trafficking survivors. The guide is a versatile resource suitable for college and high school creative writing teachers; as well as for workshop groups seeking writing prompts and for expressive art therapy classes created for trauma-affinity organizations. Book Club facilitators and writing teachers may also use the guide as a companion to Jean’s poetry book Object Lesson in order to further introduce readers to human-trafficking and objectification as subjects for concern in America.
Writing is a powerful tool that can foster healing as well as empathy. OBJECT LESSON: A GUIDE TO WRITING POETRY, by Jennifer Jean, invites writers to practice these possibilities—as well as to understand the fundamental building blocks of poetry so that each poem they create becomes its best self. Jean accomplishes this by discussing the creative process behind each poem in her collection OBJECT LESSON—which explores the lives of sex-trafficking survivors. The guide is a versatile resource suitable for college and high school creative writing teachers; as well as for workshop groups seeking writing prompts and for expressive art therapy classes created for trauma-affinity organizations. Book Club facilitators and writing teachers may also use the guide as a companion to Jean’s poetry book Object Lesson in order to further introduce readers to human-trafficking and objectification as subjects for concern in America.
"I am grateful for Jennifer’s willingness to share her gift with others, empowering them to step into their past and take ownership over the pain and hurt. This guide is not only a practical approach to poetry writing, but is a wonderful help for those who are in the world of emotional trauma recovery."
-Stephanie Clark, CEO of Amirah, Inc., author of Letters to an Activist: Discovering Hope in the Pursuit of Social Change
-Stephanie Clark, CEO of Amirah, Inc., author of Letters to an Activist: Discovering Hope in the Pursuit of Social Change
"Jennifer Jean’s The Fool asks us, 'Aren’t we supposed to see after time spent in the dark?' And blessedly, the answer is yes: so much life goes on to breathe and dwell in this exceptional debut collection: muggy men, hornets, vespers, '…the eyes of these poems black like beetles.' The Fool gives us a world where '…we needed every red-engine knell to slumber…and then we could wake stoked to survive.' This is a poetry that does more than survive in our collective memory: it flashes, it burns."
- Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Lucky Fish
"The Fool takes us to this basic truth, that when we feel most unloved and unlovable, we enter the space of endings and beginnings, the space where we must decide whether or not to believe. This collection of poetry is thus an article of faith, poems that dare us—in unflinching terms—to believe. Jean's poetic emerges in twists of language that hurtle into dangerous places, steep falls and banked curves that bring us back to consider life's vital air and light."
- Afaa Michael Weaver,
The Government of Nature
"When you open Jennifer Jean's new book The Fool, be ready to travel with her. The title comes from an archetypal figure in the Tarot cards, one typically imagined as a wanderer, someone open to life, needing freedom but perhaps buffeted by it too, a figure not beyond fear, but not afraid of the dark either. These are also the virtues you'll find in Jennifer Jean's poems. They travel back to a hardscrabble childhood, and forward through a young woman's coming of age. She also takes us inward via dreams and shape-shifting visions, charting thereby some of the wilder and more difficult areas of the psyche. At each turn of the journey we accompany a person in the process of acquiring hard-earned and utterly worthwhile spiritual wisdom. In effect, what we witness in these vivid poems is the growth of a soul."
-Fred Marchant, Said Not Said
"Jennifer Jean's The Archivist is epic in its scope and daring in its ambition, but conscious of everyday occurrences and small wonders that make our world a place of magic. This collection is a tapestry that displays Jean's lush, inventive version of Biblical history, each poem its own panel of intrigue. The Archivist is not just a series of persona-driven poems, but a courageous exploration of desire set to--and rebelling against--a well-known story. In the words of one poem, '...there is something inimitable/ About joy and reciprocity,/ About this art."
- Mary Biddinger, Saint Monica
- Mary Biddinger, Saint Monica
This is a long lyric about "the fishwife," a shapeshifting marine creature, and the restoration of her maternal lineage. This is also a multi-media venture--it's published as web-based text and audio, MP3, PDF, e-book, CD and in print. There is a music component as well--the instrumental piece, "Begin Beginnings," is composed by Sarah Eide who has been setting other of my "Fishwife Tales" to music.
"Jennifer Jean's startling poems offer a view of war rarely seen in modern poetics--through the eyes of a child. As the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, we see firsthand, and in unflinching detail, the collateral damage war creates within the modern family. She's not afraid to examine those fires in childhood most of us are afraid or unwilling to find words for. Jennifer's poems strip us down to the core--in a penetrating, sensitive, powerful, and eloquent language all her own."
- January O'Neil, Rewilding
Website by Luc Jean : [email protected]
- January O'Neil, Rewilding
Website by Luc Jean : [email protected]