Books By Sistah Joy
Ordained Work
Ordained Work - Poems of Faith, Inspiration, and Empowerment, is Sistah Joy's most recent collection, which opens with a welcoming prayer. "In celebration of the healing and empowering love of Christ in my life, I offer this prayer and these poems as meditations of faith, and testimonies of thanksgiving. I invite you to celebrate God's miraculous power, mercy, and grace, to perhaps be guided to more clearly recognize those things that are part of His plan for you."
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Lord I'm Dancin' As Fast As I Can
This first book of poems by Sistah Joy includes an introduction by award-winning former Washington Post journalist, Dorothy Gilliam, who writes, "Though this book is Alford's initial collection, hers is a seasoned voice of considerable depth and power.
The book's depth lies in Alford's clear understanding of what it means to be rooted in Africa while grounded in her experiences as a black woman in America. In the first cycle, "My Soul Shouts Out Loud," her poems mourn and celebrate the black experience--from the homeland from which blacks were stolen, through their sojourn in the new land. The poems bring Alford's pain for the deep wounds of her black brothers and sisters into clear focus. Yet she stands proudly among those who see the survival of African Americans as evidence of their strength, not their weakness. Despite the evidence she presents that blacks often are still stangers in a strange land, she sees blacks as victors, not victims." (Click on image to purchase this book.)
From Pain To Empowerment, The Fabric Of My Being
The poems in this collection are offered in testimony to the power of faith in helping to overcome trials and tribulations. Prayerfully my sharing this journey can help others who find themselves in need of an anchor. I would offer that faith allows us to celebrate the victory even as we face the most difficult of life's challenges.
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This Garden Called Life
This is a collection of poems and photographs by native Washingtonian Sistah Joy, who embraced poetry early in her writing career as a means of healing. She soon discovered that poetry offered much more than she initially perceived and began sharing her gift of inspiring and empowering poetry with readers and audiences of all ages.
This particular compilation of poems and photographs was inspired over a 5 year span while working with teens in the Expressions Talk Up/Not Down teen poetry residency camps. "Many times the teens shared their journey and many times I shared mine. Through each residency we each came out stronger, fortified in knowing that the road ahead leads to and through a wondrous garden called life. We choose to live it in all its fullness and yes, at times, its awfulness, confident and reassured in the knowledge that we do not travel alone."
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