Off site. On purpose. A Literary Reading SWWIM, MER, and NELLE, three premier literary journals representing women’s voices, co-host an off-site reading during the 2023 AWP Conference in Seattle. The evening will feature many of today’s celebrated women poets and writers. Admission is free. Please join us for an amazing reading and celebration. RSVP here. Off site. On purpose. A Literary Reading SWWIM – MER – NELLE Friday, March 10 Doors 6:30 PM; Readings 7:00 PM The Forum at Town Hall Seattle 1119 8th Avenue Seattle, WA 98101 Admission Free Wine, Beer, and Snacks available for purchase Featured Readers:…
Author: Mom Egg Review
Danielle Jones A Love Poem Without Subtext Because sometimes the best way to say a thing is to say it: a river is as wide as a river, a knife as sharp as a knife. My love for you is my love for you. Can’t be compared with anything else, not for anyone else—for you. The years without you were like wind racing along the river, a dry mouth thirsting, unable to kiss the water’s skin—or like skin, taking in the knife, blade never-ending, unbending, no hilt to stop it, no way for the wound to begin, much less…
Judgment “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” — “Rating” Mothers “Are you a good witch or a bad witch,” Dorothy asks Glinda, who has no problem naming herself as good. When we apply the question to mothers, we’re in thornier territory. In reading submissions this year, we noticed a number of works focused on questions around just that determination, “good” or “bad” mothers. The concept of judgment raises questions. Who is judging? Society? Religion? Children, parents and other relatives can weigh in, but even complete strangers judge mothers. And when is the judgment taking…
Blair Hurley Breastfeeding and the Early Sacrifices of Motherhood What they say about early motherhood amnesia is true: the first few months I was a mother are mostly a blur now, and looking back on them, I’m not sure how I made it through. I had my daughter in the first week of the pandemic, in early March. The birth experience was normal, but two days later, the world had changed; her doctor (and mine) were quarantined, all of my postpartum appointments were cancelled, the physiotherapist I had lined up made an apologetic call describing some exercises to do…
M.A.M.A. issue 54 – Mathilde Jansen, Art, and Lisa DeSiro, Poetry Mathilde Jansen Mathilde Jansen hails from Deventer (at the IJssel river valley), in the Netherlands. She graduated from the Royal Academy, The Hague (KABK) in 2006. Dar es Salaam has been a second home and source of inspiration. In 2016 she completed the postgraduate studies Education in Arts (Beroepskunstenaar in de Klas) at the Amsterdam School of the Arts. Her primary photographic practice seeks the universal value of natural resources and minerals as a means of tracing the complex relationship between people and the global economy. She…
Maram Al-Masri Poetry from The Abduction (forthcoming from White Pine Press in Spring 2023) Translated by Hélène Cardona The Abduction refers to an autobiographical event in Maram Al-Masri’s life. When, as a young Arab woman living in France, she decides to separate from her husband with whom she has a child, the father kidnaps the baby and returns to Syria. Al-Masri won’t see her son for thirteen years. This is the story of a woman denied the basic right to raise her child. These are haunting, spellbinding poems of love, despair, and hope, a delicate, profound and powerful book on…
Noreen Graf After Your Mother Dies and What If I Don’t Noreen Graf lives in South Texas. Her comics have appeared in Political Irony. She was a finalist in the James Jones First Book Contest, and runner up in the Chester B Himes Short Fiction Prize. Her short fiction has appeared in The Ocotillo Review, Sixfold, and Dirty Chai. She is currently an MFA student in the Creative Writing program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Cristi Ackerman Wells My Mother “I was adopted when I was two weeks old.” So goes the beginning of my life story. I have always known I was adopted, but I never knew my biological mother. Her existence was a pulling question, tugging at me. It felt strange to not know someone with whom I had such intimate beginnings. I was the only one of my peers who was adopted. I was fascinated by biological families. I made a study of how they interacted. How similar they looked and moved. Inevitably my studies resulted in furthering my isolation.…
Starr Davis Strange Fruits My grandma keeps a bowl of oranges on her counter. Petite, luscious mandarins. They always look so perfect. Everything in my grandma’s apartment has always been perfect. It took me years to realize it is all perfect because she is not. It is my nephew’s demand that oranges be present when he visits my grandma in her senior living community. Last time he was here, he say, Grandmama, you don’t like me anymore! I said, boy, why would you say that? And he say because you don’t have any oranges for me! She laughed with…
Elīna Eihmane Night Mommy When darkness falls Night Mommy crawls into your bed with scissors. She cuts your nails and treats your wounds with sea buckthorn oil, she rubs White Flower ointment on your nose so you can breathe with ease and never snore or sneeze. When you wake up in the morning, the Night Mommy stops crawling. A report comes in of her deeds, and you say: Thank you, and: Please. Elīna Eihmane is a poet, artist, filmmaker and mother from Latvia, currently based in Taiwan. Her first picture book One Day At The Taiwan…