New York and African Tapestries
“Juanita Torrence-Thompson’s delightful collection is more than a tapestry, it is a collection of tapestries. Juanita has stitched together the times and the places of her life with people who share them with her. The result is an heirloom of insight and image; a source of wisdom, identity and especially of comfort. By her gratitude we all become grateful.”
— Daniel Thomas Moran, 2nd Poet Laureate, Suffolk County New York
“Juanita Torrence-Thompson carefully considers and perfectly shapes her lines of verse. As a result, her poems are lucid and immediate. You get a feeling of ‘Yes, I’ve been there; I’ve felt those things.’”
— Thaddeus Rutkowski, author of Tetched and Roughhouse
“From New York to Uganda, England to Chin, Sydney to Africa, Juanita Torrence-Thompson’s poems lead us on a mother-daughter journey, each separately finding her own way in the world of women, searching for the human sparks that unite us all. Issues tackled from September 11 in New York to Peace Corps work with disadvantaged youth, to the simple act of dancing with her husband.”
— Rochelle Ratner, author of Balancing Acts
“In Juanita Torrence-Thompson’s book, New York and African Tapestries, the 9/11 poems reveal her nobility of character. I found the ”Mother You Knew How to Live“ poems to be tenderhearted and revealing of a mother who had very special qualities for her daughter and for the world at large. The mixture of enthusiasm for life, insight into human foibles and strengths and awareness of tragic conditions that exist for some while others dance in a more utopian realm are her own unique medley”
— Poet Barbara Hantman.
Selections
About Juanita Torrence-Thompson
Juanita Torrence-Thompson has read extensively at U.S. universities, schools, libraries and on radio and TV. She has also read in Switzerland, Singapore and at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Juanita Torrence-Thompson’s poetry is published in Europe, Canada and widely in U.S. journals and in her newspaper poetry columns (The Culvert Chronicles in New York and in Point of View in Massachusetts). In 2006, she became editor of the 25-year old international Möbius, The Poetry Magazine.