Birth & What Came After: poems on birth and motherhood

This is a collection of motherhood poetry, but don’t expect sonnets of rainbows and baby giggles. Birth & What Came After is full of deep truths, aching observations, and slices of darkness. Because as much as motherhood warms our hearts and expands our worlds, it can also be lonely, isolating, confusing, and downright difficult. We are learning our new children, and we are coming home to ourselves. Jessica Bates’s poetry gives us the courage to face our fears, name them, and let them go.Grab a copy of Birth & What Came After for the new mother in your life. This books makes the perfect addition to your baby shower gift. (You could sign it and personalize it in lieu of an overpriced greeting card!) Even seasoned mothers and parents of all gender identities will relate to the poems. It’s Jessica’s wish that these pieces make you feel a little less alone in the dark hours of the night.Jessica Bates was featured twice on the First Latch podcast with Barbara Demske, and her book was included in a breastfeeding gift box for mothers. Her poem To the Mother Up at 3am Nursing a Baby and Crying Softly from her forthcoming collection will be included in a conference on Birth Trauma in London in 2020.Motherhood is a deeply transformative experience that isn’t spoken of enough. This book will help you feel the true weight of motherhood, and the words will soothe your heart.Excerpt from the poem Feeding:O, drink from me, sweet sonwho came from the black depthsof my body.You latch on and power up,drawing energy from my currents.I shoot you little shardsof bone and with them your bodycontinues its work, building the bone, brewing the blood, fatteningthe folds of you.You suck and I tingle from skull to heel,struck with a tuning fork and hummingin the blue light of a darkened bedroom.I try to feel my own edges in thelow light. I send my mind to theouter edges of me — where do I end?I send myself to my innermost edges,and I see that in both directionsI am infinite.