SOUL OF ISABELLA

About the Book

Soul of Isabella is about beginnings and endings and making a difference where one stands in a complex world. In her second volume of poetry, Isabella invites you to reflect on your story by sharing facets of hers and her thoughts on themes as diverse as youth violence, geopolitics, and the United States Library of Congress. In compelling, precise, and lively language Isabella woos the reader to practice cursive writing with her in kindergarten; high-step to “Pomp and Circumstance” on May Day; struggle through swirling, knee-deep snow to reach high school during frigid winters; work with her as a part-time sales clerk in a treacherous environment from junior high through undergraduate school; and crisscross the programs of Baptist, United Methodist, Presbyterian, and storefront churches in learning about God, faith, and the social gospel. Her playfulness and wit are evident in West Mary Street, Hair Parade, and Weather Jitters; while Requiem in Reverse, Death Becomes Us, and Children of the Twenty-First Century illuminate her passion for proactive involvement in building the future – all within the context of her African-American heritage as a minister’s daughter and a hybrid of Farmville, Virginia and Chester, Pennsylvania.

About the Author

Isabella’s several careers include elementary school teaching, higher education program development, and higher education policy analysis, research, and evaluation. In addition to conducting several seminal studies on factors affecting the success of minority students, faculty, and institutions in higher education, she has played pivotal roles in local and regional boards relating to county elections; health management organizations; and diabetes prevention, care, and management. Her poetry collections include On Being Prayerful, Long and Short Poems That Heal (2010) and Almond Trees, Conversations with John Coltrane, which will be published shortly. She has participated in the PIP program of the DC Commission of the Arts, the Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Commission Poetry Series, and open mike sessions of The Writers Center, DC. Isabella is one of 36 poets featured in Inspired Results, Poets and Artists of Takoma Park, Maryland (2009), and has received several poetry awards.