THE WAY WE WERE: Motherhood as a Catalyst for Change In her poem, “Learning Language,” Erin Armstrong writes, “Extinguished are the mornings where I rise / alone to my writing, my coffee, my sense of self. . .” The…
Browsing: MER Literary Folio
Ages/Stages: MER Online Folio of Poetry, Creative Prose, and Visual Art In this themed folio, “Ages/Stages,” we took a well-used trope of child development and broadened the category to include the ages and stages of the mother as well…
Praise poems and the poets who write them, plus two writing prompts A Folio Curated by JP Howard I love writing praise poems and teaching others how to write praise poems. Praise poems let us acknowledge all the complicated and…
Curated by Jennifer Martelli and Cindy Veach In her poem, “I will hunger,” Elinor Ann Walker states “All paths lead toward hunger,” and that The maw is the mother, her mouth, the oven, the hope that appetite leaves you,…
Parent (verb): to be or act as a parent. Words Ambriel Floyd Bostic James Callan Alisa Childress Hayes Davis Ashley Espinoza Jennifer Furner Mike Gray Francesca Leader Elizabeth O’Rourke Ellen June Wright Art Sally Brown Sofia Chapman Rachael Grad…
Literary Folio Curated by J.L. Scott The phrase “the joy of motherhood” has become somewhat trite, full of connotations held over from a time when nobody was willing to admit that not all of motherhood is, in fact, joyful.…
You thought you heard a whale, a wail, a wailing. Assumed a woman’s voice, a stance to view the mess. —Alise Alouisi, “I Am Not Your Mother” The poems in the MOTHERS RESPOND folio refuse to look away from landscapes…
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…
As I braid one of my daughter’s hair and the other waits her turn, I tell them what I am doing. I show them how to separate the hair in sections, how each braid is comprised of three parts, and…
Eco-poetry: Nature Through the Lens of Motherhood We live in fraught ecological times, as unchecked-climate change threatens our planet. And though we—humankind—may be the invasive species, “we are,” as the poet Ashia Ajani writes, “nature, entangled in her movements.”…