Felicia Mitchell
About the Poet
Felicia Mitchell, a resident of Washington County, Virginia, since 1987, taught English and creative writing at Emory & Henry College until her retirement with Professor Emeritus status in 2020. At Emory & Henry College, she received awards that included the James A. Davis Award. Prior to Virginia, she lived in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. A 1973 graduate of Booker T. Washington in Columbia, SC, she received college degrees from the University of South Carolina (BA, MA) and The University of Texas at Austin (PhD). Felicia continues to work with writing, editing, and workshop projects within her community and farther afield.
Her poetry tends to explore family roots and the natural world, with inspiration being drawn from family members, the medical world, her yard and trails farther afield, and archetypal myths. Poems have appeared in a number of journals over the years, including The Examined Life Journal, Hospital Drive, and Columbia. A Journal of Literature & Art. Poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, with "My Turn Out of the Box" (Referential Magazine) being named a finalist for Best of the Net in 2010. Chapbooks include Earthenware Fertility Figure (Talent House Press, 1999) and The Cleft of the Rock (Finishing Line Press, 2009). Case Hysteries, published by Mellen in 1996 (out of print), is a short collection of dramatic monologues and dialogues based on five of Freud's case histories of women. Waltzing with Horses, the first full-length collection of poems, is available from Press 53 (2014). Her more recent book is A Mother Speaks, A Daughter Listens. Journeying Together Through Dementia from Wising Up Press (2022). "Up From Tumbling Creek," selected by Claudia Emerson on behalf of the Poetry Society of Virginia in 2010 for a Metrorail Public Art Project, appears in a public art project in the Greensboro Metro station in the Dulles Corridor in northern Virginia. In addition to poetry, Felicia has published scholarly articles, creative nonfiction, and some fiction. Her Words. Diverse Voices in Contemporary Appalachian Women's Poetry (University of Tennessee Press, 2002) is an edited book of poems, critical essays, and interviews focusing on women in Appalachia. Scholarly articles on poetry have appeared in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Poets & Writers, Mid-American Review, Phoebe: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Feminist Research, Theory, and Aesthetics, and elsewhere. In Athens, Felicia wrote the occasional column or review for The Athens Observer, and other local publications. For many years, she wrote a weekly column for Washington County News. She has contributed blogs over the years to Cure Today, sharing experiences with cancer.
Region
Southwest
Virginia City or County Affiliation
Washington County
Years of Residence in Virginia
36
Current City/State of Residence
Meadowview, VA
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Year of Birth
1956
Keywords/Tags
nature, family, health, myth
Published Works or Performances
Books
A Mother Speaks, A Daughter Listens: Journeying Together Through Dementia [poems] (Decatur, GA: Wising Up Press, 2022).
Waltzing with Horses [poetry]. (Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2014).
The Cleft of the Rock [chapbook] (Georgetown, KY: Finishing Line Press, 2009).
Her Words: Diverse Voices in Contemporary Appalachian Women’s Poetry [edited book of critical essays, conversations, oral histories, and poems] (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2002).
Earthenware Fertility Figure [chapbook] (Talent, Oregon: Talent House Press, 1999).
Words & Quilts. A Selection of Quilt Poems [edited book of quilt poems and quilt art reproductions] (Lincolnwood, IL: The Quilt Digest Press/NTC Publishing Group, 1996).
Case Hysteries [sequence of poetic monologues and dialogues based on Freud’s case histories] (Lewiston, NY: Mellen Poetry Press, 1996).
Poems in Anthologies & Readers
“Another Eden," "With Howard Finster," "A Poem for Lost Ancestors," "Love Poem for My Son," "Mother Tree..." (In The Southern Anthology Volume IX: Virginia. Texas Review Press, 2023, 177-181).
“Wild Grapes Near Saltville” (In Rewilding, Poems for the Environment Flexible Press, 2020. 173).
“Landscape with Shoes, Stewarts Creek” & “Towhee” (In Mountains Piled Upon Mountains. Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene. Ed. Jessia Cory. WVU Press, 2019. 25, 296).
“Joy in the Afternoon” and “By the Clinch River, St. Paul” (In Surprised by Joy. A Wising Up Anthology. Eds. Charles D. Brockett and Heather Tosteson. Wising Up Press, 2019. 89, 190).
“Bear Calls” (In Earth’s Blessings. Prayers, Poems, and Meditations. Ed. June Cotner. Jersey City, NJ: Viva Editions, 2016. 73).
“More” (In Back to Joy, Little Reminders to Help Us Through Life’s Tough Times. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McNeel Publish, 2015. 134).
“One Green Heron at Dusk” (Sunrise from Blue Thunder. Ed. Ami Kaye. El Paso, TX: Pirene’s Fountain, 2011. 112).
“Clues” (Come What May. Motif. Volume 2. Ed. Marianne Worthington. Louisville, KY: Motes Books, 2010).
“Missing” (In Low Explosions. Writings on the Body. Ed. Casie Fedukovich with Steve Sparks. Knoxville, TN: Knoxville Writers’ Guild, 2006. 242-243).
“My Country Garden” (In The South Atlantic Coast and Piedmont: A Literary Field Guide. Stories from Where We Live Series. Ed. Sara St. Antoine, Trudy H. Nicholson, Trudy Nicholson, and Paul Mirocha. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 2006. 101).
“When Wild Heart Cherries Are Too High To Pick” (In Poems from the Mountains. Ed. Margot Wizansky. Dartmouth, MA: Salt Marsh Pottery Press, 2005. 109-110).
"Mannequin with Men at Her Feet" (In Très di-verse-city. An Austin International Poetry Festival Anthology. Ed. Scott Wiggerman. Austin, TX: AIPF, Inc. 1999. 43).
"Azande Wood Figure: Mother & Child" (In Readings in the Psychology of Women: Dimensions of the Female Experience. Ed. Carie Forden, Anne Hunter and Beverly Birns. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998. 203).
"New Year's Eve" (In Other Testaments. Biblical Revisionist Poetry. Volume 1. Ed. Michelle Rhea and Anita M. Barnard. Houston, Texas: Incarnate Muse Press, 1997. 58).
"Infant Burial Room, Wupatki" (In Our Mothers, Our Selves. Writers and Poets Celebrating Motherhood. Ed. Karen J. Donnelly and J.B. Bernstein. Westport, CT, and London: Bergin & Garvey, 1996. 28-29).
"Eggs" (In Bite to Eat Place, An Anthology of Contemporary Food Poetry and Poetic Prose. Ed. Andrea Adolph, Donald L. Vallis, and Anne F. Walker. Oakland, CA: Redwood Coast Press, 1995. 111).
"The Woman from Guatemala" (In We Speak for Peace. An Anthology. Ed. Ruth Harriet Jacobs. Pittsburgh: KIT Publishers, 1992. 117).
”In Memory" and "Mama" (In Out of Season. An Anthology of Work By and About Young People Who Died. Ed. Paula Trachtman. Amagansett, New York: Amagansett Press, 1992. 236).
"Late Bloomer" and "The Birth of Venus" (In The Poet's Job: To Go Too Far. Ed. Margaret Honton. Columbus, Ohio: Sophia Books, 1985. 60-61 & 234-35).
Contact me for a lengthy bibliography of individual journal publications as needed.
Selected Individual Poems or Performances
A Mother Speaks, A Daughter Listens with Henry McCarthy of Poets & Writers, First Reading, WEHC
Two Poems by Felicia Mitchell, Red Eft Editions, 22 March 2015.
"Silver," Delta Poetry Review, 2021.
"Mockingbird, Smyth Chapel Road," Mason Street Review.
"Mother Tree," Cheat River Review, 2021, p. 2.
Felicia Mitchell