The poem questions the ideology of motherhood, one of the themes in my summer 2021 dissertation for Kingston University. The recurring question, what’s it like to be a mother, was followed with an account of the actions we overlook concerning motherhood, until at the end, the reply is a situation that occurs for women who may have fertility issues, or those who prefer to remain ‘child-free’. This poem is neither an advocate for motherhood, nor against it, but rather an artistic representation of some of my own experiences as a mother.
I came to Kingston as an MA Creative Writing student who’d self-published for a few years. This past year has been full of new methods, enlightenments and new practices, poetry being one of the many modes of creativity which I’ve come to appreciate.
Although poetry is an exciting challenge, prose is hard to replace as a preferred form of expression. The dissertation for the summer of 2021, is an experimental piece which, in many ways, touches on a few of the issues I find myself questioning as a Black, British woman and author. The story that this poems comes from was in no way a form of social discourse, yet it seems to question many of the norms which we take as standard.
The short story was also part of a submission during the year. Through the writing of this short narrative, I again turned to questions of ‘the self’.
I hope the video representation of the poem informs a little of the artistry within the lines of words.
Thank you!