Winner of the Vernice Quebodeaux “Pathways” Poetry Prize

Passion Seeds is a love story of an American woman and a Burkinabe man that addresses intercultural and interracial love. Richard Harteis notes,“Ondrus contemplates how love ‘seeds bring invisible to visible.’ The poems trace a history of transcontinental desire from Burkina Faso, to Benin, to Russia, to Ohio; they dispel the notion that we live in a post-racial world. Ondrus shows how racism and prejudice are some of our invisible seeds. Love and desire become an invisible power that can transcend the space between America and Burkina Faso.” Poet Joyce Ashuntantang says that this collection, “will continue to seduce readers over and over again, and the only voodoo Ondrus is guilty of, is her relentless use of imagery that plants passionate seeds in our bodies, letting us discover new reasons to love and love again!”