Gail A. Spence

Gail A. Spence

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About the Author

Gail A. Spence was born and raised in Jamaica. She received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in 1995 and her law degree from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1998. She has served as a Law Clerk in New Jersey Superior Court and as an Assistant Prosecutor in Essex County, New Jersey. She is a member of the adjunct faculty of the Social Science Department of the Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey. Spence's poetry is featured in The International Library of Poetry's collection The Brilliance of Night and The Silence Within.

My Redemption
(buy book on-line directly from the publisher)

Format: Paperback, 96pp.
ISBN: 0970909306
Publisher: Adeolastar Productions
Pub. Date: April 2001

About The Book

In My Redemption, a book of thirty-eight poems, Gail A. Spence takes the reader on a colorful journey through idyllic memories of her homeland, Jamaica. Spence invites the reader to taste, touch, and savor the very essence of all things Jamaican. This collection of poems includes snap shots of the American psyche as perceived from an immigrant perspective, challenging the reader to address the themes of race and the fast paced rat race that is very much America, in fresh and provocative ways. My Redemption triumphs as it incorporates the universal themes of coming of age, friendship, religion, overcoming obstacles, love, and in its salute to everyday people.

Excerpts from My Redemption

If We Must Die

If we must die
Let it not be by forty-one bullets
Or the victims of driving while black
If we must die
Let it not be by the Ku Klux Klan
Or the mindless act of being dragged to death
If we must die
Let it not be before racial harmony
Or the mere act of shopping unescorted
If we must die
Let it not be by crippling hopelessness
Or the assassination of our hopes and dreams
Instead,
If we must die
Can we just last long enough
To collect social security?

No Where Fast

I was going no where fast
It didn’t matter that I wouldn’t last
For the journey ahead.
No one cared
No one dared
To challenge me
Or the creed
Which offered a place
Of belonging
Filling a need
I had to heed.
I was going no where fast
I wanted to change the past
But the sins of my father visited
And soon I became enlisted
In an army of crude, rude
Intentions.
I was going no where fast
I wanted a chance to cast
My own destiny
But that too was not to be.
My fate was sealed
I knew the deal
Society had written my part
And I learnt by heart
The timeless script.

If Only

If only
You could
Believe
When the skies
Are gray
Thunderstorms
Strike
Floods avenge
Earthquakes
Shake.
And all
That is familiar
Ceases to be.

Yours would be
The world to
Achieve
Knowing
You are unstoppable
Buoyed by
Herculean force
Because you
Believed.

But,
Hardships abound
We are frail
Loved ones fail
Losses unrecoverable
Problems insurmountable.
We complicate
Simple life
And fail
If only
To believe

Contact Information
Adeolastar Productions
P.O. Box 2426
Bloomfield, NJ 07003

Phone/FAX: 973-324-1701

Email: Adeolastar@aol.com

http://www.adeolastar.com/