Brenna Lakeson

Brenna Lakeson is a queer feminist pastor and social activist living in Atlanta, GA. Born and raised in North Carolina, she has a BA in Music from Elon University, with minors in Spanish and Latin American studies. She has an MDiv from Candler School of Theology at Emory University with particular interests in feminist theology, Hebrew Bible, and apocalyptic literature. Her writing strives to hold the stories of the marginalized in the light, create meaning from her experiences, and heal the things that hurt. Her recently published pieces can be found in Lifevest Literary Magazine at lifevestlit.com, Z Publishing’s Georgia’s Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Nonfiction, and America’s Emerging Poets 2018: Southeast Region. Her newest endeavor, unguarded, serves to relinquish perfectionism, witness the messiness of living, and tell her full truths. Brenna’s writing and blog can be found at brennalakeson.com.

eschatology

What if I don’t meet my mother in heaven?

Digging my fingernails
into the moist dirt,
I find old things rotting
deep in the ground,
things I forgot
that I planted.
I root them out furiously
until my knuckles bleed
and mourn the empty holes
they leave behind.