@Literary Mama
Read the most recent pieces @Literary Mama….
~~~~~
COLUMNS
A Little Advice About Advice by Marjorie Osterhout from Dear Marjo
The one thing that doesn’t make me happy or relaxed is other people. Whenever I’m out and about with my baby, total strangers (usually old women) are giving me all kinds of advice, as if I’m stupid.
CREATIVE NONFICTION
The Djiboutian Refuge by Rachel Pieh Jones
Neem trees arch over the driveway forming a shade tunnel, like the summer oaks and maples of my childhood Minneapolis.
It’s Never Too Early by Amy Collini
Oh, the peaches: they were orbs of pure sun, and I ate them the way they were meant to be, devoured standing at the sink, juice running down my chin, my belly making me lean at an uncomfortable angle.
The Gustavs in my Life by Anne Raustol
I have a moody sea anemone in my kitchen, Gustav the Eighth. I also have Espen, a moody eight-year-old (though he is many other things), who is sometimes in my kitchen, too.
The Small Things by Lyz Lenz
When I look down again, I see my daughter sidling up to the couch. She is two and a half with bright blue eyes and a mop of curly blonde hair. She flashes me a smile.
“I pooped my undiewears.”
FICTION
Bambino by Kristen Bird
Someone keeps dropping off babies at my house.
LITERARY REFLECTIONS
Essential Reading: Discovery by Libby Maxey
When I chose this month’s Essential Reading theme, I was musing on the possibilities of summer adventure.
POETRY
A Letter to Mary by Liz Dolan
Why We Tell Them the Truth by Dayna Patterson
Geese and B is for Bird by Christiana N. Peterson
Three Poems by Shana Youngdahl
REVIEWS
Literary Papas: A Review of When I First Held You by M. Bartley Seigel
I’ll be the first to admit, as a dad myself, I approach all reading and watching on the subject of fatherhood with some trepidation. We occupy a moment in the American zeitgeist when the examination of dads sets a pretty low conversational bar.
Body of Work: A Review of The Rhetoric of Pregnancy by Alyse Bensel
But what happens to our agency when the pregnant body is defined as “risky”? When women’s bodies require extensive monitoring and treatment?