I Carry My Mother [Paperback]

I Carry My Mother is a book-length cycle of poems that explores a daughters journey through her mothers illness and death. From diagnosis through yahrtzeit (one-year anniversary), the narrator grapples with what it means to lose a mother. The poems, written in a variety of forms (sonnet, pantoum, villanelle, sestina, terza rima, haiku, and others) are finely crafted, completely accessible, and full of startling, poignant, and powerful imagery. These poems will resonant with all who have lost a parent, relative, spouse, friend, or anyone whom they dearly love.


In a passionate book, Lesl?a Newman chronicles her mothers dying and the phases of her own grieving. She fuses an unsparing realism with lyrical intensity, in honest, direct, clear language, in mostly rhymed stanzas. The pages seem to tremble with an accurate description of changing emotional states, all born of the closeness, humor, and love in the mother-daughter relationship.
Naomi Replansky, author of The Dangerous World and Collected Poems.

After the introductory poem I thought oh dear, Im going to cry my way through the whole thing. And then, the exquisite first-rate poetryusing forms like triolet and rondeautook me to a much deeper place than tears can possibly reveal. This is a very beautiful book.
Judy Grahn, author of A Simple Revolution: The Making of an Activist Poet.

Throughout her long career, Lesl?a Newman has distinguished herself by diving deep into the essentials of life and delivering them with a light touch. The poems in her new collection, I Carry My Mother, are both light and dark. They are small rituals that draw us closer to the child within, revealing the complex love between a vivacious mother and an independent daughter. Each verse is a spiritual chant; each line is a lyric glistening with grief.
Jewelle Gomez, author ofThe Gilda Stories and Oral Tradition.

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