A Celebration of Mothers

Inspiration and enough strength to make children strong. Warmth and comfort to sustain a family through abandonment. Courage and loyalty that defy grim danger. Whatever crazy thing we need, and love that is ever reborn: These seven poems and stories, which we present in honor of Mother’s Day, remind us of all that mothers provide.

Maram al-Massri
From A Red Cherry on a White-Tiled Floor
She bequeathed her children a mother who dreams.
Lillian-Yvonne Bertram
Am Looking For
Desperately, children: a toaster, many coupons.
Robert Olen Butler
Mother in the Trenches
I said, “You’re a good boy. Your mother loves you.”
Jessica Francis Kane
My Strength Is That of a Hundred Men Because My Heart Is Pure
She’d like her son to know she’s strong.
Catherine Elcik
Water Snakes
The morning he turns two, she dips him into the lake.
Lorrie Moore
How to Talk to Your Mother
Tell your mother you are in love with Elvis.
Cathy Carr
The Pizza in New Jersey
Kids are tough little monkeys, you know.

A Celebration of Mothers

She bequeathed her children a mother who dreams.

Desperately, children: a toaster, many coupons.

I said, “You’re a good boy. Your mother loves you.”

She’d like her son to know she’s strong.

The morning he turns two, she dips him into the lake.

Tell your mother you are in love with Elvis.

Kids are tough little monkeys, you know.