Poems for Performing Maternities: Poetries of Maternity

Abstract

I write to put the imagined threats and horrors of the very early days of motherhood into words on paper rather than leaving them as self-depleting, snowballing, internal echoes bounding within a recently emptied body. My contribution to this publication consists of four poems. Poetry provides a space for honesty. It can be pretty and seductive but just as often grimy and fearful and, in all honesty, it is most likely neither fully but a messy mix of it all. For me, the fear and worry that took place within the domestic in the very first part of motherhood was particularly connected to breastfeeding and the perceived pressures of extended family. The poems might highlight difficult feelings that seem less than ideal. But through bringing these to the fore, I want my poetic work to challenge ideals that surround the maternal role. The aim is to give mothers some much-needed recognition at a time when it is so easy to feel alienated and strange. I am also so aware that I am writing for my growing daughter. My most valued future reader. At the time of writing, the poems provide a welcome, an introduction and an important lesson that dog food is inedible. Which brings about another priority of mine, extending across all my work. Though the core matter of my work is so serious, humour and light heartedness provide an amazing tool to reach towards the audience and bring it close.