Child of the Moon

Review by Chloe Pan

The short:

A collection of poems by a Lebanese-American queer author, activist, and psychotherapist. She puts words to the deep pain and confusion associated with her memories of growing up in a civil war and in a violent household. 

The long:

Through their poems, Jessica Semaan grapples with decades of despair, fear, trauma, and shame, from their complicated childhood in Beirut, Lebanon to present day in California. Her works provide the reader an intimate look into her past and present, as anxiety, frustration, and grief linger unresolved in her mind. In one, the words tumble one after another down the page, as though they couldn’t catch their breath when sharing a haunting memory. In another, a single sentence is shared in fragments of raw emotion surrounded by empty space. These poems read as a therapeutic practice of intentional emotional expression for deep healing, speaking to her background in psychotherapy, and readers follow her on this journey to acceptance and self-love. 

To read or not to read:

Read. For fans of the work of Rupi Kaur, Semaan’s stylistic choices are equally powerful and they do not shy away from difficult topics to which individuals with a history of trauma can relate.