Our Lady of Bewilderment: Poems

Barataria Poetry Series

by Alison Pelegrin, Ava Leavell Haymon (Other)

Winner of the Phillip H. McMath Post Publication Book Award

Whether by way of visitations from secular saints, hauntings from childhood, or back talk from “indelicate broads,” a complicated world speaks to and through Alison Pelegrin in Our Lady of Bewilderment. An unusual blend of mystic-comedian, Pelegrin explores physical and psychic beauty and terror without losing sight of wonder. Drawing on the aid of beings real and imaginary, Our Lady of Bewilderment offers humorous, honest, and intimate poems contemplating life’s traumas and joys, filtered through the religion-infused secular traditions of Louisiana.

Genres: Poetry

76 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 9, 2022

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rituals for Serving Ambrosia

If not praying, if not bewitching slot machines,
my people are somewhere eating. They step outside
to swoon with the stars and their shadows spill
up the stoop, arms touching like paper dolls.
Sweet, earthly creatures. Ambrosia is theirs.
Nectar of the South, on no page of the low-carb bible.
A cherry-pinned froth of whipped cream, satsumas,
coconut flakes, pineapple tidbits, marshmallows,
pecans from Grandpa Hip's backyard. Confection
snubbed by snobs as a poor folks' food.
For me it's a birthday dish, a humble nectar
suitable for the card-table banquets of my kind--
angels with skin flap wings, with beards and tattoos,
with buck knives hidden under blankets in the truck.

Alison Pelegrin's collection Our Lady of Bewilderment is a bewildering mix of poetic styles and content. Pelegrin tends to work within a variation of a sonnet framework, but she covers a variety of experiences and reflections. There is much within this collection to warrant a reading, but be aware Pelegrin does a bit of navel gazing within her work.

For example, you'll encounter a profound passage like

How can we be
so different when the same trees
rustle in all of our dreams?
("Soliloquy Against a Kudzu Backdrop")

and then encounter this ill-advised admission:

Also I have fancied myself
a jester of the bayou, sage among dimwits,

passing a good time and writing poems
in my shame-tamed ragin' Cajun accent.
("Myth of Myself")

On the whole, I enjoyed a majority of this collection. Pelgrin can craft excellent, poignant verse. I just wish she had reined in some her excesses of autobiographical admissions and self-descriptions. Be that as it may, though, I intend to read more of Pelegrin's work.

Feast of My Medjugorje Lies

Dear ones, perfect strangers, I confess
I'm guilty of Medjugorje lies. I never
climbed a mountain on my knees
for a glimpse of her, but said I did.
Everyone yapped about miracles,
pointed to nothing and called it her face,
a heart-shaped shadow in white
shading the crown of trees.
While pretending not to look, I checked
everywhere for my angel--the night sky,
the faces of statues on the verge of tears--
but caught no sign, was never healed.
I still seek her, she who wears a halo
made of weeds, who loves so much that it hurts.

[Constantina ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5✨
Unfortunately, I only liked the last poem and four-five verses from some others... I think it was not my type of poetry.

[Emily Shearer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd quote the whole thing here, line for line, but then you wouldn't go buy your own copy from LSU Press, which is what you need to do right now. OK, OK, maybe not the whole thing; maybe just "Feast of Banana Spiders, Starlight, and Roadkill," "Myth of Myself," "Deluge: A Triple Sonnet," and the last eight lines of "Soliloquy Against a Kudzu Backdrop." To whit: "Something wild/ stirs in me. Something wild calls my name,/ and vanishes, muffled beneath a beast/ of green. When I look up nothing's left/ but the ghost of wind lurching through kudzu leaves,/ the movement of a horse minus the horse itself."

I mean, C'mon.

Something wild stirs in me when I read Pelegrin's pieces. Pelegrin, meaning pilgrim. I feel these poems took me on a pilgrimage to New Orleans, rising floodwaters, traumatic upbringings, the weightlifting gym (!) and back home to myself. Damn, Alison. Your snatch IS pretty good.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

At times hilarious, stoic, badass, and gutting, Pelegrín lets it all roll, good times and not. This is the kind of book that hooks you and doesn’t let go.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging read that made me laugh, cry, and left me inspired. And considering yoga.