Poetry of a Hobo Mama - A Review & Giveaway Celebrating the Full Spectrum of Motherhood {4.30; Worldwide}
This is a group giveaway with Hobo Mama, Living Peacefully With Children, Authentic Parenting, Up, Down & Natural, Code Name: Mama, Positive Parenting Connection, and I Thought I Knew Mama. Please enter at one site only. Find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory entry and optional bonus entries.
In honor of April's National Poetry Month, Lauren Wayne of Hobo Mama is offering a giveaway of SEVEN copies of her poetry book, Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years. Each copy retails for $11.99, so the combined value of this giveaway is $72!Poetry of a Hobo Mama is a collection of poems by Lauren Wayne, inspired by the initial three years of parenting her firstborn son, Mikko.
About the book
I sling my baby like a bindle on my back,tramping along the trackscountless feet have worn before.
Poetry of a Hobo Mama contains three years' worth of parenting poetry, written from the time Lauren and her husband, Sam, were preparing for Mikko, through watching him grow to three years old. She has included poems that speak of their natural parenting journey — breastfeeding, the family bed, elimination communication, and natural birth among them.The book is a combination of free verse and more traditional poetry forms, and the topics and tone run through all the variations the poet felt when writing them: the grief of miscarriage, the anticipation of trying to conceive, the upheaval of the newborn months, the joy of parenting, and the balance of motherhood with personal passion.
Until you move awayPillow hog and space eater,chubby legs kicking my thighs.Starfish hands pushing my chestand unh unh unh in the darknessuntil I roll over and let you feed.Dream interrupter, devourer of sleep,you take while I waituntil you move away.Lap hog and attention seeker,sturdy body invading my space.Starfish hand pulling my chinto meet your gray-green eyes,your chatter about octopi.Poem interrupter, devourer of time,you talk while I waituntil you move away.Imagining a night with full sleep,imagining a day with concentration,uninterrupted, unrelenting,unleavened.Dreading the dayyou move away.
My review
April is National Poetry Month, and last year, Lauren of Hobo Mama inspired me to write a few poems about my very favorite subject, my sweet son, so it only seems fitting that I should celebrate National Poetry Month this year by reviewing and giving away Lauren's powerful book - Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years
Although I took several poetry classes in college and graduate school, it was trying to write my own poetry about the subject that has transformed my life more than any other experience - parenting - that most makes me appreciate Lauren's work in this book. Trying to find the right words to illuminate the beauty, pain, transformation, miracle, and power of the parenting journey is a daunting and humbling task, and I am so impressed with Lauren's very apparent soul searching, raw honesty, and sheer talent.
Lauren's poems cover the full gamut of the early parenting journey from
miscarriage (Why were we led all that way, and never to see your face?)toconception (Charting, temping, noting fluids and marking good days on each month’s calendar.)topregnancy (Kicking me under my heart for all those months. Just under my heart.)tothe first taste of mother's intuition (People told me when you were due, as if you were a term paper and to turn in late would earn a failing grade. We ignored them, didn't we?)tobirth (Light sped into your eyes, and electricity arced in connection between us, as I defied gravity and orbited you.)tothe mourning of the life you left behind (I have wanted people to know there is more than joy in being a mother, that there is frustration and regret, strain on a marriage, lack of sleep, lack of time, lack of peace.)
Lauren also writes about postpartum depression, breastfeeding, pumping, babywearing, her love for her husband, and the magic of the smallest moments of parenting that seem to make the most lasting impressions upon us.
Some of Lauren's words will haunt you as you recognize the thoughts you may have been afraid to speak out loud, and some will remind you of the incredible universality of the mothering experience. No matter which end of the spectrum her poems touch, and regardless of what you have experienced yourself, I have no doubt that Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years will provide you with a real and refreshing take on motherhood. I look forward to revisiting these poems and to seeing how Lauren captures the continuation of her parenting journey.
About the author
Lauren Wayne lives and writes in the Pacific Northwestern USA, with her husband, Sam, and their two sweet boys: four-year-old Mikko (almost five, he would tell you!) and ten-month-old baby Alrik (who persistently makes the concerned face you see in the picture at right). She has been writing and publishing poetry for twenty-five years, but parenting has added even more inspiration. Poetry allows her to be honest about her emotional journey and to show an image, pin down a feeling, in a way that other writing does not.Lauren blogs at Hobo Mama about natural and attachment parenting, and gives a behind-the-scenes look at writing at LaurenWayne.com. She co-hosts the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting and is a cofounder of Natural Parents Network, a site that brings together attachment parents interested in a natural lifestyle.Lauren and Mikko grace the book's cover — that's Lauren and Mikko breastfeeding in public on a Seattle beach when Mikko was just a few months old.
BUY IT!
You can purchase your own copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama at Amazon
WIN IT!
For your own chance to win one of seven copies of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, enter by leaving a comment and using the Rafflecopter system below.Contest is open WORLDWIDE.
MANDATORY ENTRY: Share one of your favorite parenting moments.
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