What Ross is doing here, it’s a cartography of womanhood, a chronicle of the feminine- water, blood, fear, longing-and it’s overwhelming. I feel like a voyeur, stirred by the secrets I’ve overheard, my head buzzing and blooming, my heart cracked open like a pomegranate. What she shows us here is the long road from girl to woman to girl again, mothers’ and daughters’ journeys bouncing off each other like moonlight on the night sea. The girl on the cusp on womanhood, the woman in the eyes of the girl, the girl in woman’s, the endless pull of moon and water, the ocean singing in the blood. I’m staggered by these poems. John Calvin Hughes, author of The Lost Gospel of Darnell Rabren Laura Sobbott Ross’s sweeping and exultant book is both prayer and confession, an all-embracing utterance to a mythic, all-listening ear. These poems wrestle with the vagaries of life in a praise song of scintillating language and gasp-worthy images. In an odyssey across far-flung geography, yearning and memory, To the Patron Saint of Wayward Daughters is a poetic hero’s journey that startles, comforts and disquiets, but ultimately arrives as small rainbowed forgivenesses and an antidote for the world and its random cruelties.
Gianna Russo, Wordsmith of the City of Tampa and author of One House Down
In her latest offering, Laura Sobbott Ross gives us a brilliant collection of poetry-To the Patron Saint of Wayward Daughters, that has the genuine feel of a culmination of lifelong journaling. Each page reflects on a past, brimming with tales of family and friendship, love and longing, marinating in both melancholy- my bones full of frolic despite the weight of your doctor’s prognosis,
and celebration- I wanted to dance with you, Barcelona, your candles gone liquid, your blue twilight under lace… This is impactful, revealing verse- the soft underbelly of a well-lived life, detailing adventures that circle the globe. Laura holds nothing back. When you close this book, you will know her better.
Jim Steele, author of Facets
