Poet and Activist speaks at Ellis
On March 9, 2015, poet and activist Patricia Jabbeh Wesley was The Ellis School's Women of Wisdom and Courage speaker in honor of Women's History Month. This annual event, which always features a female activist and writer, connects Ellis students to writers who have catalyzed political and social change.
Dr. Wesley led a series of assemblies with Middle and Upper School students. She also presented an evening reading, which included these two poems:
When Monrovia Rises
By Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
The city is not a crippled woman at all. This city
is not a blind man at a potholed roadside, his
cane, longer than his eye, waiting for coins to fall
into his bowl, in a land where all the coins were lost
at war. When Monrovia rises, the city rises with
a bang, and I, throwing off my damp beddings,
wake up with a soft prayer on my lips. Even God
in the Heavens knows how fragile this place is.
This city is not an egg or it would have long
emerged from its shell, a small fiery woman
with the legs of snakes. All day, boys younger
than history can remember, shout at one another
on a street corner near me about a country they
have never seen. Girls wearing old t-shirts speak
a new language, a corruption by that same ugly war.
You see, they have never seen better times.
Everyone here barricades themselves behind steel
doors, steel bars, and those who can afford also
have walls this high. Here, we’re all afraid that one
of us may light a match and start the fire again
or maybe one among us may break into our home
and slash us all up not for our wealth, but for
the memories they still carry under angry eyelids.
Maybe God will come down one day without his boots.
Maybe someone will someday convince us that after
all the city was leveled, we are all the same after all,
same mother, same father, same root, same country,
all of us, branches and limbs of the same oak.
A Room With A View
By Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
From my hospital room window, the city rises
through sky, steel city, three rivers, bridges,
broken and unbroken. A friend once told me
how this city has more bridges than any other
city, bridges so broken, they have become only
relics of the past. Outside my window, an old,
old city theater, where students from grade
schools stand in line for a visit, but my camera
lens are only for the homes on the far hill, homes,
I have heard to come down, sliding when heavy
rains overwhelm the city, but again, they rise,
like towers, and their owners again repossess them.
This third day, fifth round of chemotherapy opens
slowly with rain, fog, clouds, so the windowpanes
in my photo reminds me that even a rainy day can
be beautiful as the beauty of hard times, the beauty
in the mystery of illness, the quiet of a hospital
room, when all you can do is reflect on the beauty
of your past life through raindrops against your
window glass, the beauty of homes against
the distant hills, bridge upon bridge, and the warmth
of my beddings, reminding me that I am still here.
“The Women of Wisdom and Courage speaker series was founded to inspire young women to believe in the power of writing as a force of truth and change,” said Dr. Norma Greco, English Instructor and Outreach Coordinator at Ellis and organizer of the series. “We present a woman writer and activist, who has had the courage to challenge political oppression and injustice in her homeland through her writing.”
Dr. Norma Greco founded the Women of Wisdom and Courage series in 2010 in honor of International Women’s Day. Past writers have included Khet Mar (Burma), Sonali Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka), and Moniru Ravanipur (Iran).
Back
When Monrovia Rises
By Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
The city is not a crippled woman at all. This city
is not a blind man at a potholed roadside, his
cane, longer than his eye, waiting for coins to fall
into his bowl, in a land where all the coins were lost
at war. When Monrovia rises, the city rises with
a bang, and I, throwing off my damp beddings,
wake up with a soft prayer on my lips. Even God
in the Heavens knows how fragile this place is.
This city is not an egg or it would have long
emerged from its shell, a small fiery woman
with the legs of snakes. All day, boys younger
than history can remember, shout at one another
on a street corner near me about a country they
have never seen. Girls wearing old t-shirts speak
a new language, a corruption by that same ugly war.
You see, they have never seen better times.
Everyone here barricades themselves behind steel
doors, steel bars, and those who can afford also
have walls this high. Here, we’re all afraid that one
of us may light a match and start the fire again
or maybe one among us may break into our home
and slash us all up not for our wealth, but for
the memories they still carry under angry eyelids.
Maybe God will come down one day without his boots.
Maybe someone will someday convince us that after
all the city was leveled, we are all the same after all,
same mother, same father, same root, same country,
all of us, branches and limbs of the same oak.
A Room With A View
By Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
From my hospital room window, the city rises
through sky, steel city, three rivers, bridges,
broken and unbroken. A friend once told me
how this city has more bridges than any other
city, bridges so broken, they have become only
relics of the past. Outside my window, an old,
old city theater, where students from grade
schools stand in line for a visit, but my camera
lens are only for the homes on the far hill, homes,
I have heard to come down, sliding when heavy
rains overwhelm the city, but again, they rise,
like towers, and their owners again repossess them.
This third day, fifth round of chemotherapy opens
slowly with rain, fog, clouds, so the windowpanes
in my photo reminds me that even a rainy day can
be beautiful as the beauty of hard times, the beauty
in the mystery of illness, the quiet of a hospital
room, when all you can do is reflect on the beauty
of your past life through raindrops against your
window glass, the beauty of homes against
the distant hills, bridge upon bridge, and the warmth
of my beddings, reminding me that I am still here.
“The Women of Wisdom and Courage speaker series was founded to inspire young women to believe in the power of writing as a force of truth and change,” said Dr. Norma Greco, English Instructor and Outreach Coordinator at Ellis and organizer of the series. “We present a woman writer and activist, who has had the courage to challenge political oppression and injustice in her homeland through her writing.”
Dr. Norma Greco founded the Women of Wisdom and Courage series in 2010 in honor of International Women’s Day. Past writers have included Khet Mar (Burma), Sonali Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka), and Moniru Ravanipur (Iran).
Envision Her at Ellis
If you're interested in exploring Ellis for your daughter, let's connect! Request information about enrollment, attend one of our upcoming events, or hear about Ellis from those who know it best: our students.
