“What does one make of a childhood in poverty, a childhood haunted by an absent father, a Vietnam veteran? Jennifer Jean’s story itself is important to hear. Jean makes the story even more valuable by the craft and perspective in these poems—nothing sentimental, no easy answers. The mix of descriptive and visionary verse enacts the fusion of dreams and reality that are childhood memories. By the end of her odyssey, she has gleaned difficult, startling wisdom: 'If I could take anyone into battle, I’d take my kids.' These poems are small steps towards peace.”
J.D. Scrimgeour The Last Miles

“The tragic impact of the Vietnam War on an American family preoccupies the poetry of Jennifer Jean. As counterpoint, she writes a series of 'Vespers' in which her strong human spirit asserts itself. Growing up in southern California, Jean's protagonist knows "where there's smoke there's snakes.' Urban and gritty in their perceptions, Jean's poems also convey a disarming gentleness and delicacy. 'My wounds,' she tells us, 'are reliable.' Even so, she makes a choice to live what she calls 'the unhaunted life.' Wounds heal and Jennifer Jean's volume of poems is a testament to that healing.”
Claire Keyes The Question of Rapture

“Jennifer Jean’s startling poems offer a view of war rarely seen in modern poetics—through the eyes of a child. As the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, we see firsthand, and in unflinching detail, the collateral damage war creates within the modern family. She’s not afraid to examine those fires in childhood most of us are afraid or unwilling to find words for. Jennifer’s poems strip us down to the core—in a penetrating, sensitive, powerful, and eloquent language all her own.”
January O'Neil Underlife