@ Literary Mama

The past month has been full of creative works.  Read the most recent pieces at Literary Mama…

COLUMNS

Good Friday by B.L. Pike from Senior Mama

For Lent this year I’m giving up sleep. This was not a deliberate choice. It was thrust upon me last month—upon all of us—by the sudden death of Sally, our daughter Dara’s diabetes-alert service dog.

Reader Response to Wintering: Moving within the Self as a Way of Conceiving One’s Own Writing by Cassie Premo Steele from Birthing the Mother Writer

This month Cassie Premo Steele chose two poems by readers on the themes of mothers and suicide. And yet not. There’s something deeper at play in these poems.

How to Raise Kids Who Love Winter: Sixteen Tips by Nicole Stellon O’Donnell

Clap enthusiastically when they fall. Fall over yourself and stick your legs in the air. Laugh harder. As you lay on the trail staring at your boots against the clouds, try to forget that you are almost 40.

Planting: Sowing the Seeds of the Self in One’s Own Writing Room By Cassie Premo Steele from Birthing the Mother Writer

In grad school before I was married, I had my own studio apartment. I wrote at a small, wooden desk that I had painted pink and fuchsia. Above the desk, I’d framed a poster of a painting by Jane Evershed called “If you believe in woman, hold my hand.”

CREATIVE NONFICTION

Things that People Say by Adele Myers

“Please hurry!” he urged the cab driver, as each pothole left me cringing, my head bouncing, my feet and hands dusty blue cold. When we were close enough, we opted to walk the two blocks to Lenox Hill instead of sit in traffic. A mistake, I feared. As soon as my slippered feet hit the concrete I felt a warm rush down my legs.

Sunday Visit by Ramona Defelice Long

We run through the rain toward a nondescript building, me clutching a McDonald’s bag. The therapeutic community does its own cooking, but on Sundays, if a Client earns a family visit, the perk of a Big Mac and fries is allowed.

Liver Nights by Sonja Yoerg

When my father came home from work, the last thing he wanted to do was eat with us. We were too noisy, too bad-mannered, too frivolous — we were too much like children.

FICTION

Quantum by Aleksandra Andrejevic-Bullock

“I have a brilliant idea,” says my husband.

It is Sunday night and that means certain things in our house. One of them is, never argue. That’s the agreement we’ve had since spending Sundays together. Never argue on a Sunday, the precious day of rest and family time.

LITERARY REFLECTIONS

Now Reading:March 2013 by Libby Maxey

As always, our editors are reading their way into diverse literary territories.  From Norway to Iraq to old New Orleans, from the kitchen to a surreal circus to the mind of an autistic teenager, they offer a wide range of possibilities for your own bookish explorations.

Essential Reading:New Ways of Speaking by Libby Maxey

This reading list is, in its modest way, celebrating National Poetry Month– not with poetry alone, but with titles that bring a uniquely penetrating voice to a difficult, unusual or even utterly mundane subject.

POETRY

Old School Baptist Churchyard Hopewell, NJ by Nancy Scott

As we drive past the cemetery,
four-year-old Leah says, Let’s stop.
I want to see the dead people.

Blighted Ovum by Wendy Chin-Tanner

It was a baby hedgehog that blocked my path
today on the way to Maddy’s school.

Supermarket Lingerie by Elaine Gilbert

I’ve crossed many lines: I own
a minivan; I say, “Wait till your father gets home.”
We attended, as a family, the opening of a Burger King

Late April, Early May by Donna Levine Gershon

Late April, and my daughters tell me
they want to plant a garden.

Birthday by Dayna Patterson

She vomits on the tire swing,
an ominous beginning.

PROFILES

A Conversation with Anne Enright by Lisa Lynne Lewis

In Making Babies: Stumbling Into Motherhood, acclaimed author Anne Enright chronicles her experience navigating the bizarre, unsettling and at times highly comical landscape of new motherhood.

A Conversation with Brain, Child Editor-in-Chief Marcelle Soviero by Christina Marie-Speed

Marcelle Soviero is the author of An Iridescent Life: Essays on Motherhood and Stepmotherhood. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers. Brain, Child, founded in 2000, is the largest literary magazine devoted to mothering.

REVIEWS

Brief Interludes: Three Poetry Chapbooks on Mothers and Motherhood by Ginny Kaczmarek

Chapbooks most likely originated in the 19th century, when street peddlers sold brief collections of folktales, songs, political or religious tracts, and poetry. The chapbooks we know today are short collections of poems, usually 40 pages or less and most often by a single author. These books range from self-published, handcrafted zines to fully produced, widely distributed books.

A Review of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction: Part of Our Mini-Series on the Craft of Writing by Alizabeth Rasmussen

There is no hard-and-fast word limit for “flash” prose, but 500-1000 words is a good general guideline. So, for busy moms like me, moms who struggle to find time to write, the flash genre should be perfect. Less writing time, fewer words, shorter pieces, right? Not necessarily.