Lullaby for Mothers

Lullaby for Mothers

Lullaby for Mothers is a collection of poems for motherhood and beyond.

Mary captures moments with her children that are both small and personal. These are moments we all experience every day, the kind of things we hope we never forget.

Lullaby for Mothers provides a window into the universal experience of being a mother. It reminds us that life—and our relationship with our children—is happening all around us, every day. It invites us to slow down, to listen, and to love.

About Lullaby for Mothers

Lullaby for Mothers started with one quiet moment with my son, a few scrawled notes and a single poem. 

That poem led me to notice more moments, and more poems flowed. Pretty soon I realised that my days—our days as mothers—are full of the ordinary precious. Our relationship with our children is a series of moments, as well as the string that connects them.   

These 33 poems were written over the course of a year.  Early on, before the idea of a book, a thought arrived—write a lullaby for mothers.  I listened and waited, expecting there would be a poem with this title. Nothing came, but poems about motherhood continued to flow. When I wondered at the end what the title of this collection might be, the thought arose yet again—lullaby for mothers. Not a poem; a collection.

From readers

“A captivating, radiant, immeasurable gift for children and all who love them.
I hope you'll read it. I hope you'll share it. But most of all, I hope you'll inhabit the heart of it; there is deep healing and promise here for the journey ahead, no matter your age.”
~ Lisa Creech Bledsoe, author of Appalachian Ground and Wolf Laundry

“I am not a mother, but Lullaby for Mothers spoke to me in a profound and visceral way. This collection of poems is about so much more than what it means to have a child. It is about what it means to be a child -- and we are all children. It is about Motherhood in a larger sense -- love, connection, nurturing. It is about change -- our own, and that of those around us. It is about growing -- up, out, in. Mary's is a mother's voice that I need to hear. She unites the eternal voice of mother earth, of the divine, and of unconditional love with the extraordinary specificity of her own being, bringing universal ideas to LIFE. A child is always learning, never static, open to the world and its possibilities, innately innocent and born with wonder. My favorite poem in the collection was "It's Not Too Late." Thank you, Mary, for giving me permission to believe that it is not too late to be a child. And, equally, that it is not too late to be an adult.
Thank you for mothering. This is a beautiful gift.”
~ Naina Saligram

“I am not a mother, and yet, Mary wrote this book for me. I don’t tune out when I read her collection of poetry like I sometimes do when the parents around the table go into the details of bedtime rituals, percentiles, and tooth brushing battles. From the first stanza to the closing line, my senses are on high alert as if she were bypassing my brain and speaking directly to my core. Not, mind you, to some unfulfilled but dried up desire to mother (if anything the poems confirm that I never had any such desire) but to my inner child. I, too, want to ask Mary about where the insects go when the chainsaws are done cutting down the trees. Or what a prison is and why we need them. Or about the concept of uncertainty and how we can ever be certain of anything. Her words, even though they don’t pretend to make sense of any of that, sooth me, like a good lullaby should, while not suggesting that everything is just magically going to be okay.

I also am a woman and while I never gave up any part of me for a child, I did so, willingly I though, in a desire to belong and to fit into whatever box seemed shiny at the time. So when Mary’s lullaby almost turns into a wake-up call, my body feels the tectonic shift she sings about.

I also am a daughter and a small part of me wishes that my mom were different, that she understood poetry, and that she would appreciate a collection like this a mother’s day gift. But then I remember that Mary also sings a song of understanding for all the mothers, including mine. But anyway, if you have a mom (or dad, or sister, or friend) who loves poetry or maybe just needs a soothing lullaby, consider this as a mother’s day (or any day) gift for them.
Because a gift it is.”
~ Sylke Laine

“I have just begun reading Mary Walker's Lullaby for Mothers! These poems are simply breath taking. Capturing the precious moments I have spent with my babies in her words as I read I am sent catapulting me back to re-live those moments again. Such a divine and pleasurable read! Thankyou for the gift of these words.”
~ Krystal Cook