Poem from June 2022 Free Generative Writing Workshop

 

Icon in Sts. Konstantine and Helen Orthodox Church, Cluj, Romania

The Raised Beds of Privilege

a sower casting seeds
4 growing conditions

one was a path densely packed
compacted by a variety of weights
seeds fell flat leaving no indentation
birds feasted

one was an uneven rock field 
unreliable hold on rainfall
unlucky sprouts cracked the turf
only to wither in the lack

one was the hideout of thistles
thorns hibernating underground
they rose beside the good
choked them

you; however, will arise from top soil
lengthen roots, unfurl leaves into freedom
shrewdly watered to a healthy tension
take for granted the ease of flourishing

(workshop led by Chad Abushanab.  Retrospective-Prospective poetry structure prompt)

Poem from May 2022 Free Gen workshop

 

Aftermath

Post-Apocalypse could be like that book

the one about the Irish monastics

how out of cells they saved civilization

by chanting greetings to every hour

by alchemical means of brewing beer

by handcrafting illuminated texts

Inspired by their Rule, we could reset

assemble who remains into Orders

I’d be glad to do my monkish duty

praying the community’s breviary

weeding the community’s berry bed

baking the community’s daily bread

I’d volunteer to copy Little Women

put Jacob’s ladder in the inner margin

next to Beth’s death scene

she would be the uppermost angel

her left foot balanced on the highest rung 

right ready to take the next rungless step

(Inspired by the poem Reasons to Live Through the Apocalypse by Nikita Gill. Prompt shared by the editors of Backchannels Journal at the May 2022 Free Generative Writing Workshops)

Transformative Justice

 Talking In Circles

Folding chairs ring an altar offering

kente cloth, candles, fruits, photographs

Men shift through discomfort in silence, then

break through the ice between/in them

laying down layers of trust among them

These are the terms they agree to

This is the language they will speak

Integrity

Generosity

Vulnerability

Humility

Curiosity

Courage

Still, he will hesitate to unhide his heart

One trip around the circle –

Pass

Two trips –

Pass

Third time is a charm –

here is the harm he harbors:

Mom’s boyfriend’s fists

Fourth time around –

wet lines streak down cheeks

A friend. A bullet. An exit.

Fifth circle of Hell –

compassion was a luxury item

his turf didn’t allow to sprout

The sixth circling in on his story –

he wants off this stationary cycle

but to thrive he needs a revolution

(Inspired by the Garry Malachi Scott interview in Healing Justice - Documentary Film by World Trust and Shakti Butler)

The Length of a Clenched Fist

 

“In writing that spans the first eight months of the pandemic and quarantine, Felleman shares a generous range of interests, concerns, and sympathies....You’ll discover poems that have the crisp, chiseled feel of prayers addressing our faith, doubt, grace, and grief.”

–David Duer, author of To Bread (o.p.) (Coffee House Press)

"LA Felleman’s The Length of a Clenched Fist lives in the only habitable places of the early pandemic: crowded grocery tores, bird cam livestreams, wetland trails, borrowed homes, and memories of the Before Times…. these poems fall into step with rhythms of the domestic and natural worlds, the grounding repetitive acts of sweeping floorboards and listening to the calls of sandhill cranes. Under Felleman’s meditative gaze, poetry becomes a practice, too: she observes the seemingly circumscribed world so closely that it begins to shimmer and swell, spilling out over the edges of quarantined life."

=Becca Klaver, author of Ready for the World (Black Lawrence Press)

The Length of a Clenched Fist is available for pre-order at

Finishing Line Press

https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-length-of-a-clenched-fist-by-l-a-felleman/

Currently, LA is an accountant at the University of Iowa.  Before that, she was a seminary professor.  Prior to that, she was a pastor.  She credits the Free Generative Writing Workshops, the Midwest Writing Center, and workshops offered through Iowa City Poetry with her growth as a poet.  To give back to the writing community, she organizes a writers open mic at the public library (or via Zoom during pandemics) and serves on the advisory council of Iowa City Poetry.   http://lafelleman.blogspot.com/

New Note Poetry Livestream (5/07/2022)

Reading my poem "Cerulean Nexus" published in New Note Poetry, Winter 2021 

In order to celebrate Easter, there must first be a grave

 

Before proclaiming restored Joy
betrayal splintered fellowship

Before they comprehended Hope

the innocent was arrested

Before they sang Resurrection

the crucified was mocked and scorned

Before the grave's seal was broken

their promise lay lifeless, entombed

distances between the dead

Dachau concentration camp, 1945

 

mahogany resting place｜cushioned｜flag-draped 

beneath a rotunda circled by thousands ｜

single-file｜clockwise 

backed-up gutter｜hands tied｜heat shot 

｜thousands leaving the scene 

chewed up｜spit out 

I am clinging to the whirlwind 

It owes me an explanation 

As of yet, all it does is moan