Object Lesson

by Jennifer Jean, Martha Mccollough (Cover Art), Julie Shematz (Contributor)

"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. These intensely crafted, lyric narratives and persona poems are about sex-trafficking and objectification in America. Many pieces 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.

Genres: Poetry

62 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2021

About the author

I am the author of the poetry chapbook In the War (Big Table Publishing Co., 2010) My poetry has appeared in numerous journals, including: North Dakota Quarterly, Denver Quarterly, Endicott Review, Awakenings Review, Santa Clara Review, Southern California Review, Caketrain, Relief Quarterly, The MOM Egg, The Wilderness House Review, and Megaera. I'm a regular contributer to Art Throb (http://www.nsartthrob.com), an online arts and lifestyle magazine--and have recently begun a monthly feature column for Art Throb, called "POETRY: Fascinations & Occasional Reviews." I co-direct Thursday’s Theatre of Words & Music artist’s reading and performance series in Salem, MA. As well, I teach literature and writing at Salem State College, Montserrat College of Art, The Peabody Institute Library, and as a freelance poetry workshop facilitator.