McMichael, Shaun (ed.): The Shadow Beside Me: Pongo Poetry from King County Juvenile Detention

A Pongo Poetry Project Publication, paperback

Publication Date: September 20, 2020

"For 25 years, the Pongo Poetry Project has helped youth in King County's juvenile justice system identify and give voice to their fear, pain, anger, grief, loneliness, love, joy, and hope. This is an extraordinary gift to young people whose voices too frequently are not heard, much less celebrated. With The Shadow Beside Me, we again hear and cherish their unfiltered stories. Thank you, Pongo Poetry Project, for this powerful work." --JUDITH RAMSEYER, former Chief Judge, Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center

"Pongo provides detained minors with an opportunity to explore and express the thoughts and emotions they hold in a way that shows depth, insight, and meaning. Their expression is powerful, riveting, and palpable. Pongo supports youth to tell their amazing stories of heartache, hard times, hope, and resilience. The power and presence of their words, leap off the page!" --ALLEN A NANCE, Juvenile Division Director, King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention

"The Shadow Beside Me is hauntingly beautiful and poignant. Our shadows are always with us, but not always seen. Pongo is the light that allows these shadows to emerge onto the pages before you, some seen for perhaps the first time." --SEEMA L. CLIFASEFI, PhD, MSW, Associate Professor, Co-Director of Harm Reduction Research and Treatment Center, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, School of Medicine

"With heart-wrenching honesty, these powerful poems cut to the chase of life. They show betrayal and hope, pain and resilience, rage and remorse, emptiness and gratitude. We feel their stories." --PING HO, MA, MPH, Founder and Director, UCLArts & Healing