Worthy

Deborah LeFalle has given us poems that shine a light on what it means to be human. The poet’s observant eye on the landscapes we inhabit leave us to ponder what it means to be alive. LeFalle stands bare to witness and show us how to find simplicity in ourselves. In Worthy, LeFalle gives us the chance to come home and discover what is always there to embrace. Donnelle McGee, author of Naked Every once in a while, I come across a poet who knows her worth and is secure enough to be funny and charming as well as sensitive and intuitive. Deborah is that writer and I get down on my knees and applaud her for it. It is one thing to write pretty words, another to have sterling thoughts, but … to put them together and make the reader relaxed is quite a talent. Deborah, like Afaa Weaver and Belva Davis, is one of the writers from Renaissance House that validates its existence. Abigail McGrath, director of Renaissance House This collection is a comfort. These poems are committed to hopefulness, to capturing the beauty and splendor in the everyday, but they are not blind to the realities of the world. In the powerful poem Stuck on Replay, for example, LeFalle uses refrain as a way to un-blind us to the daily violence to which we have become accustomed: “news at nine, a make-shift shrine / supposed brother has shot another.” The speakers of these poems live between the terrible and the beautiful, between grief and gratitude. Worthy is a project of exuberance from a poet who, even in the darkest times, has the ability to rejoice and redeem. Brittany Perham, author of Double Portrait