An Archival Mothering We’re On: A June Jordan Reader, Christoph Keller and Jan Heller Levi, Eds. Review by Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz For this memoriam, Jordan’s ode begins immediately. At first glance the cover is simply black and white, but a closer look reveals the art of a soft grey woven whisper of a (maternal) quilt or distant fence, fraught with possibility. This webbed image set to full bleed, anchored by a black band, is how one enters. Whereas in most books the front matter of praise and accolades, copyright, partial list of works, and embedded quotes may be overlooked, for…
Author: Mom Egg Review
Review by Christine Salvatore A good story can thread its way into our lives and not release us until it is told. So it is with the prominent narrative behind Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s newest book, Interrupted Geographies (Trio House Press, 2017). This is Dunkle’s third poetry collection, following Gold Passage, selected by Ross Gay for the 2012 Trio Award, and There’s a Ghost in this Machine of Air, and as well as two chapbooks from Finishing Line Press. The bones of Dunkle’s collection are made of stone. Broken into three sections, each is distinct for its subject matter but linked…
Review by Michelle Everett Wilbert Carol Smallwood’s latest volume of poetry, A Matter of Selection, brings into sharp focus her vivid interest in both the natural world and probing observations of the daily—the quotidian mysteries present in any given life when we take time to notice and reflect upon all that we interact with in the course of a day. Ms. Smallwood—a retired librarian and the author of several novels, poetry, children’s books and educational materials for librarians and educators—brings the eye of a scientist, the heart of a mother, and the mind of a mystic to her poems, infusing…
MER VOX Quarterly – Summer 2018 On Mothering Grown Children – A fiction, poetry, and prose folio curated by Peg Alford Pursell Featured writers: Maria Benet Jacqueline Doyle Rebecca Foust Linda Michel-Cassidy Stephanie Noble Daye Phillippo Dorothy Rice Angela Narciso Torres Peg Alford Pursell Obsession/Addiction – A poetry folio curated by Jennifer Martelli and Cindy Veach Featured poets: Devon Balwit Karen Rile Rachel Barton Sonia Greenfield Jenna Le Theresa Senato Edwards Write Now: Mothers Reflect on the Joys and Challenge of Motherhood – A folio curated by JP Howard Featured writers: Anastacia-Reneé J. Nicole Hill Shawn(ta) Smit-Cruz Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie…
On Mothering Grown Children INTRODUCTION The impetus for creating this folio arose when, by chance, I read an entry I’d made long ago in a journal soon after the birth of my daughter. I hadn’t planned to have a child at age nineteen and I hadn’t planned on the caesarean section by which she made her entry into the world. Over the years during which she grew into adulthood, I made many plans for my child, some of which worked out and just as many that didn’t. I hadn’t planned on reading the journal entry. I’d been…
Obsession/Addiction In her poem, “Mentation,” Devon Balwit writes, “What would it be like to pour anyway, /again and again.” This folio examines the mind caught in obsessive and addictive loops, through the lens of the caregiver. The poetry—gorgeous in its rich language, harsh in its honesty and sadness—is like strong liquor in the belly. Experience the sound and movement in these lines of poetry by Sonia Greenfield: I used to drink bourbon and wait for the ice to melt into the shape of a fetus. (“The Pull”) The poems expand beyond the parameters of substance abuse, underscoring the generational…
Write Now: Mother writers reflect on joys and challenges of motherhood A Folio Curated by JP Howard This folio consists of poems and essays by poets who are all mothers – some first time mothers and others seasoned mamas with grown children. These pieces speak to the joy, complications, struggles and often worries that come with being a mother. As a mother of two suns (sons) I know that we are not always invited to submit work that speaks to how we walk through the world as mothers and this short folio allows us to do just that. My…
THREE POEMS FROM REBECCA FOUST AN AUTIST’S MOTHER REFLECTS afraid to die before you but in this wild dark New Hampshire meadow fireflies glow like downed pulsars all incandescence like your face & no trace of errant gene or what perished to breed such rapture light DIS / ABILITY a stubborn perseveration / tenacity to slog the 8-year path to a math degree from Cal inflexible with routines / reliable punctual he never fails to make the Sunday call lacks affect / no drama lacks theory of mind / see empathy below lacks empathy / he…
THREE CREATIVE NONFICTION PIECES FROM LINDA MICHEL-CASSIDY TWENTY-TWO She thinks she needs to have her life figured out. At her age, I was in a rigorous graduate program, terrified of each day, unable to free myself from a misery of my own creation. Please, I want to say, be young and untethered. Go rock climbing. Take a three-month gig at an arts camp. Get that weird hairless cat. Do stand-up. Have your car towed and then contest it. Land in the ER for various minor mishaps. Let friends of friends you barely know stay at your apartment. Sublet…
THREE POEMS FROM ANGELA NARCISO TORRES LILLI’S URN Jolted awake by a flash— a text from my college freshman awake in his dorm at 2 a.m. I rub sleep from my eyes, find an audio clip he’s written for solo cello— Lilli’s Urn, he names it, for the pup who arrived on his sixth birthday, his companion for a decade before we lost her to cancer. Four minor notes plucked in a slow chuffing beat— the stifled sobs of mourning. Bow dragged over strings a cello moans, whale sounds from the deep. Outside, the wet boughs of a birch…