Special Feature: Selected Poems about the Different Faces of Motherhood

                                                                                       sunlight flooding 

                                                                                       through her kitchen window ...

                                                                                       childless quiet

                                                                                       Chen-ou Liu

                                                                                       child  wife  mother

                                                                                       I’ve been many things

                                                                                       poet   teacher

                                                                                       one who sits all afternoon

                                                                                       gum leaves filtering the light

                                                                                       Kathy Kituai

If we are to understand child development and believe that the early years are important in a child's life, then it seems critical to examine our beliefs about mothers ... 

-- The Different Faces of Motherhood,  edited by Beverly Birns and Dale Hay

My Dear Readers:

In celebration of Mother's Day, I would like to share with you the following poems about the different faces of motherhood:

city bus stop ...

a boy squats in the shadow

of his pregnant mother

Tomislav Maretić

breastfeeding

the slow drip of rain

on the nursery roof

     

Vanessa Proctor

midnight rain

not yet used to

motherhood

Pragya Vishnoi

breast-feeding

a gesture of something

beast-like

pitiful to think tenderly

that it is called a child

Fumi Saito

quaking aspens ...

we have inherited

mother's hands

Debbie Stranger

mother’s blanket

the worn corners

of warmth

Rachel Sutcliffe

mother gave me

her petit point purse

years ago

it began coming apart

like the two of us

Kathryn J. Stevens

wind-shuffled blossoms ...

my mother's photo album

full of strangers

Jacquie Pearce 

mother’s voice

falters more each time

I phone her --

1000 kilometres between, 

this pretence, it’s the distance

Marilyn Humbert

i cannot separate 

my feelings of love 

from hate 

mother on the horizon 

in her flowing white gown

Pamela A. Babusci

streets shrouded

in foggy darkness

a wall of moms

between lines of riot police

and BLM protesters (FYI: BLM stands for Black Lives Matter)

Chen-ou Liu

sunlight flickers

through lattice

our mother smiles

over uneven cake slices

still dividing and ruling

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde

a heart-to-heart

with my mother

for the first time 

the gibbous moon

waxing ... or waning

Elisa Theriana

my mother sings

as she brushes her hair

of fine silver …

lament for the girl

missing from the mirror

Gavin Austin

my mother

forgets morning glory ...

sitting by the window

she grows the flower

in her heart

Ikuyo Yoshimura

Mother’s Day ...

deep blue muscari

by the window

bending with the breeze

like mother

Mary Gunn

Happy Reading

Chen-ou