Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia
Patricia Neely-Dorsey
GrantHouse Publishers, February 2008
$15.00 US, ISBN 097962942X

Rating: 4

Southern Girl…

I am a Southern girl through and through and wouldn’t trade my Southern roots for anything in the world. Although I’m not from Mississippi like poet Patricia Neely-Dorsey, I could definitely picture myself in the memories she so vividly portrayed in her collection of poetry, Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia. With each poem that I read, I would find myself reflecting on my own childhood and smiling fondly at the memories each piece evoked.

This book is divided into seven sections – southern life, country living, childhood memories, family history, getting personal, intimacies and summing things up. The poems in each section allow readers, whether from the south or not, a brief glimpse into the quirks and idiosyncrasies that make up the uniqueness of the South.

While I could relate to almost every poem, a few that really spoke to me are “Inside Me” (p. 61), “Shades of Lovely” (p. 70-71), “Bookworm” (p. 72) and “Salvation” (p. 73). These pieces of prose touch on the person that I am, the beauty that is me and beliefs that I hold dear.

Poetry is not a genre that I read on a regular basis and I honestly can’t say why that is. What I do know is that Dorsey’s skills as a poet come shining through in this wonderful collection of real life inspired pieces.

~~Renee Williams, a freelance reviewer at All the Buzz, is the CEO of Literary Signature Services, an event planning business specializing in literary gifts and events for authors , as well as the promotional assistant for TheGRITS.com