Mississippi Poetry by Patricia Neely-Dorsey

I am always proud to tell people I’m from Mississippi.  There is a popular quote that says, “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi”.  Mississippi proudly boasts some of the best musicians, writers, and artists, and I recently had the pleasure of connecting with Patricia Neely-Dorsey, a Mississippi author who so graciously shared with me two of her books of Mississippi poetry.

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia and My Magnolia Memories and Musings in Poems are Patricia’s two books that I took a couple of quiet Sunday evenings to read through and I instantly connected with her writing.  Perhaps this connection I felt was because some of her memories of growing up in Mississippi mirrored mine so closely, but more so because I love the way she weaves a story through words that leaves you wanting to know even more.  To me, that’s the hallmark of a successful storyteller, and Patricia Neely-Dorsey definitely nails this.  If you think you have to be from Mississippi to appreciate her poems, you’ll be glad to know that you don’t.  While some of her poems do focus on memories of growing up here, she also writes about other topics we can all relate to:  family, love, and self-awareness, to name a few.  I personally fell in love with two of her poems entitles “Nature Lovers” and “The Rock (of Ages)”.

If you’re from the South, then you know that it just wouldn’t be a story without the mention of beauty pageants, sororities, food, going to church, family, downtown stores, Elvis, and the local folks.   This is why I found myself laughing and nodding at times while reading these books, because these topics are just so “Mississippi”.

I am so honored to have been able to review these books of poems and I highly recommend them to everyone.  If you’re a teacher or librarian looking to expand your Southern literature collection, these are definitely must-haves.