Issue 4 of the Mum Poet Club zine
Published on 7 October 2021 for UK National Poetry Day, "Choices" by the Mum Poet Club features 15 poems by members of writing group the Mum Poet Club.
Personally selected by critically acclaimed contemporary poet Liz Berry each poem explores the idea of "choice" in the context of motherhood and is accompanied by a specially commissioned illustration.
On editing the collection Liz says:
“Choosing these poems, I felt gladdened and moved to be in the company of fellow mother-writers.
In this beautiful zine we hear their voices and their stories, their dreams and fears, and discover precious companionship to support us on our own journeys through motherhood.
The Mum Poet Club is a brilliant, community-building, creative force for good.”
The collection also includes a foreword by author of Motherhood: A Manifesto, Eliane Glaser, who says:
“To give birth in a labour ward or a natural birth centre, to breastfeed or bottle-feed, to soothe a crying baby or leave them to ‘cry it out’, to ‘stay at home’ or ‘go out to work’ – why do so many mothers spend so much of their time in the grip of these agonising choices?
This collection presents a space in which to escape the endless quandaries and to reflect on them. These poems offer a rare opportunity to see our predicament afresh – and therefore to challenge it.”
This zine is made with love by the Mum Poem Press and riso-printed and hand assembled by Duplikat Press in East London.