dark angel (from calvary) by eve packer all you’ll ever be is a one-nite stand says my mother, at the holiday party i am throwing, in front of my ex- husband, son, & a friend-friend, i take the Courvoisier out of her hand, now its November, you have a pool problem she says from her bed at Calvary–yes, MPHC pool is undergoing renovation– I am swimming at WorldWide Plaza, basement, not so clean, but doable, and i get a phone–flip–no iphones yet– i get this phone because i know they will have to contact me, she will go very…
Author: Mom Egg Review
Daughter by Marjorie Maddox Always, I have grieved this day. Gone and not-gone. Your silence, thick, betrays. Always I have grieved this day. Ghost that turns your face. Promise a song forgone. Always I have grieved this day. Gone and not-gone. Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published eleven collections of poetry—including True, False, None of the Above; Local News from Someplace Else; Wives’ Tales; Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation; Perpendicular As I—the short story collection What She Was Saying; four children’s books; Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (co-editor); Presence (assistant editor); and…
Aversion by Erica Hoffmeister There is (a rather common, I’m told) condition similar to postpartum depression, similar to PTSD, aptly named nursing aversion—aversion, the rejection of—in which a physical and mental emotional sensation overtakes your woman-body, your mother-body, like a parasite. Like an alien invader, it rejects your maternal instincts, making nursing your child feel like death, torture, incompleteness. I was told often that breastfeeding would not be easy. I did not understand why. I was displayed a different picture growing up: my mother was born with an infinite milk supply, with some beautiful version of udders, with an…
Mother Musing by Sally Donaldson I am the cruise director on a ship of fools. I organize my motley crew of might-have-beens and should-have-been. They line up at my command and refuse to do anything I tell them. They tease me behind my back and say I’m a sloppy sentimentalist. I am the queen of lists, the laundress, the chief cook and bottle washer, the framer of pictures, the designer of rooms and schedules. Get up, get up you sleepy head, get out, get out of bed or you’ll miss the bus, the deadline, the party, the meeting. You…
Gifts by Patrice Boyer Claeys From Mother: a crystal bowl—sleek sides tapering to weighted base lead-heavy, incised, its clean design bright on the counter. For condiments, she said. Her aim was to emboss time, add pleasure to both guest and host, of which she’d never had enough. For Daughter: a simple cup—carved from the hardwood’s heart, hollowed from old growth trimmed and palmed, smelling of sweet sap. For sorrows, I said, her birthright’s toll. My gesture meant to hold the swells, contain woes, enclose her quicksilver soul. After years in publishing and PR, Patrice Boyer Claeys joined Plumb Line…
Dear Matthew by Brenda Bellinger No doubt this letter has already been opened for you. I’m trying to picture you now, age-progressed since I held you in my arms when you were two months old. You were an adorable baby. Over the years, I’ve had only an unfortunate and distant glimpse or two of you on your path toward adulthood, the last when I read about the events of 2003 that lead to your present circumstances. I’m not sure how clear and complete the picture of your past appears to you nor am I confident that what I’m about…
Review by Anna Schoenbach Writer, poet, and performer, Tsaurah Litzky is an accomplished author with many chapbooks, erotica, and anthology entries under her belt. A few notable chapbooks of hers include Cleaning the Duck (Bowery Books, 2011), a book of yoga poems titled Full Lotus (Nightballet Press) and Baby on the Water (Long Shot Productions, 2004). Flasher: A Memoir is part lyric essay, part reminiscence, part short story collection, and part sitcom. It is the story of an almost archetypical artist, driven by intense passion and consumed by carnal desires. Throughout Flasher, the protagonist seeks an endless stream of…
Silver Linings MER VOX Folio Curated by Jennifer Martelli and Cindy Veach Since the 2016 election, the news has been mostly terrible. Both online and offline we have been barraged 24/7 by an overwhelming level of toxicity. We’d like to offer our readers a respite, however brief. For our December folio, we’re featuring poems that celebrate silver linings wherever they may be found: in those we love, in nature, in literature, in sisterhood, in memory. It is with great honor and love that we present this Vox Folio: Silver Linings. Jennifer Martelli and Cindy Veach Featured Poets Maria Mazziotti Gillan Jen…
Interview with poet and artist Christina Springer by JP Howard I am delighted to share this new folio featuring an interview and three new poems by Christina Springer, a fabulous Alt. Black artist who uses text, performance, video and other visual expressions to share her art. Her new book, The Splooge Factory, was just released by Frayed Edge Press on November 30, 2018. This interview gives us some insights into the seventeen year process for Christina’s book to reach publication. She talks freely with MER VOX about home educating her teenage son, how art and activism intersect in her…
Silver Linings An MER VOX Folio Curated by Jennifer Martelli and Cindy Veach Since the 2016 election, the news has been mostly terrible. Both online and offline we have been barraged 24/7 by an overwhelming level of toxicity. We’d like to offer our readers a respite, however brief. For our December folio, we’re featuring poems that celebrate silver linings wherever they may be found: in those we love, in nature, in literature, in sisterhood, in memory. Our hope—for ourselves, for our readers, for poets, for those we love—is that by focusing on one positive thing in the day, we…