Redefining ‘Bad’ in Womanhood | Nwamaka Ezeano
She woke up one morning, packed her bags, jumped into an aeroplane and flew to London. She had one child and one husband in jail. She bears her maiden name. In London, she would study and make money and probably make a name for her self. She is a bad woman! I am surrounded by bad women.…
Nourish by Claire Miller
It’s the hottest Easter Monday on record, and you are one day old. The air is thick, outside the grass is parched, and you won’t drink from me. The midwives say you’ll feed next time I try, and I believe them. I’m not concerned, my happiness cannot be diminished today. Despite my unresponsive legs, my…
Finding My Freedom Within Marriage and Motherhood
I have a distinct memory of her on my wedding day, dressed in a flowered lace buba, her lips bright red like her shoes and purse. She was sitting at the corner when I gave my husband the palm wine and took him to kneel before Papa. She didn’t come to spray us with money,…
In Conversation With Chika Unigwe
“When I had my 1st, we were told to have him lie sideways, my mother said rubbish! By the time I had my 3rd 5 years later, science had caught up with Igbo traditional wisdom, and I was told to have him sleep on his back! I am a big believer in science but science…
Birthing the Sacred Woman by Samantha Kolber
Birthing the sacred woman See how she’s grown From empty-vessel innocent To full-bellied, tired and spent What fire awaits her body’s glow To push bone against bone in that slow Transition from woman to mother Embodiment of power no other Will love laboriously into being A small, sacred body fleeing Red womb house of berth…
Birth of a Daughter by Samantha Kolber
I birth myself anew as I birth you, daughter. I am me plus and minus the cells expunged to create you, daughter. You arrive, doll-sized, bright-eyed, a sponge soaking up my milk— more cells I shed to make you, feed you, daughter. Am I the mushroom— the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, or…
Is It Still Beautiful? Motherhood and Mental Health During a Pandemic
The only photographs I have on my LG mobile phone are my children’s. They are 17, 15, and 13, and every one of those photos show them wearing big smiles or pouting or frozen in some silly Snapchat filters that make them look like characters in an animated picture. They live in Aba, Nigeria, with…
Episode 2: The Body Conversation Podcast
In this second episode, Ukamaka Olisakwe chats with Cate Dicharry, Aisha Sarkin-Pawa, Samantha Kolber, M. K. Martin, and Charity Ngabirano, about maternal mental health in the age of social distancing. Cate is the Director of the Writing and Humanities Program at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine; Aisha is an entrepreneur and a…
Maternal Mental Health in the Age of Social Distancing
We are so excited to announce that the second episode of #TheBodyConversation webinar will be held virtually on Zoom, on June 27. You can register for the episode by sending an email to thebodyconvo@gmail.com to get a Zoom invite. Meet our panelists: Cate Dicharry graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR with a…
Writing Motherhood Taught Me About My Emotional and Psychic Inheritance by Megan Ross
I light a fire in your mouthand whisper:burn me. Soon, I launch my first book. It is a poetry collection that in writing has helped me stitch together my fragmented self that were left after I gave birth to my son. The collection grew from the word corpse, a word I wrote in an old…
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