Another Poem for Mothers by Erin Belieu

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 11, 2014   Another Poem for Mothers   Erin Belieu

Mother, I'm trying to write a poem to you-- which is how most poems to mothers must begin--or, What I've wanted to say, Mother...but we as children of mothers, even when mothers ourselves, cannot bear our poems to them. Poems to mothers make us feel little again. How to describe that world that mothers spin and consume and trap and love us in, that spreads for years and men and miles? Those particular hands that could smooth anything: butter on bread, cool sheets or weather. It's the wonder of them, good or bad, those mother-hands that pet and shape and slap, that sew you together the pieces of a better house or life in which you'll try to live. Mother, I've done no better than the others, but for now, here is your clever failure.              From The Poet's Child (Copper Canyon Press). Copyright © 2002 by Erin Belieu. Used with permission of Copper Canyon Press. About This Poem   “As the poem expresses, there are subjects that seem to baffle poets more than others, the subject of our mothers being very high on that list. What glorious, enraging, most essential beings mothers are. And while I have the moment, let me dedicate this to Margaret Belieu, who once wisely told me ‘I always knew your brother would walk straight down the hallway, but it seemed important to let you bounce off the walls.’” —Erin Belieu   Erin Belieu is the author of Black Box (Copper Canyon Press, 2006). She co-founded and co-directs VIDA: Women In Literary Arts, and teaches at Florida State University. Most Recent Book by Belieu   Slant Six (forthcoming in November 2014 from Copper Canyon Press) "Mother's Day" by David Young "won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton "To My Mother Waiting on 10/01/54" by Teresa Carson Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit poets.org   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038