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Annotated by:
- Davis, Cortney
- Date of entry: Jul-12-2021
Summary
Poet Felice Aull has three poems in "Lullabies &
Confessions," an anthology of poems about parenting published by
University Professors Press. In her poems, Aull often bravely sheds her
professional mantle to reveal personal experiences, deeply observed.
Miscellaneous
Felice Aull, PhD, is a poet, educator and researcher whose
interests include, among many others, the medical humanities, disabilities and the
impact of cultures on illness narratives. Aull started the Literature, Arts and
Medicine Database in 1993; many of her writings can be found on this site.
Primary Source
Lullabies & Confessions: Poetic Explorations of Parenting Across the Lifespan
Publisher
University Professors Press
Place Published
Colorado Springs, CO
Edition
2021
Editor
Louis Hoffman & Lisa Vallejos
Page Count
156
Commentary
"Inside, Looking Out" (page 102) captures a magical moment. A mother, "years later," looks back at a "spectacle" she shared with her small girl. Mother and daughter are looking out the window during a thunderstorm. "Lightling," the baby mispronounces, naming "the silver flash / slicing the sky." The mother shows her daughter how rain bounces on the road, how thunder follows the "brilliant light strikes." By poem's end, this moment is long past, but never forgotten. "Lightling," the poet-mother says now whenever lightning illuminates the sky, recalling a cherished memory. By honoring that memory in this poem, Aull makes it forever new.
After someone we love dies, we miss turning to them, telling them about the everyday events we want to share. "My Mother's Power" (page 128) is a small, jewel-like poem that captures, in seven lines, a universal experience. The narrator tells us that she often begins to talk to her mother "before I startle to catch myself / speaking to her inside my head, / left to cast about--no one else / quite right for my news." This poem illustrates not only the power our deceased loved ones continue to have in our lives, but also the power of poetry to relay complex human emotions in a few, just right words.