Mothering Outside the Margins
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Readers Report: Mommy Dearest
A collection of short pieces written by Rumpus readers pertaining to the subject of “Mommy Dearest.”
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A Part of Me
Now my not wanting men to be front and center in my life capitalized sperm into a rare commodity. Empowered reproduction is largely a myth.
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The Abattoir
This is what my mother doesn’t want me to see: the death rattle in a forbidden room. This is what she doesn’t want me to know: how one life is sacrificed for another to live.
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Mixed Feelings: Your Divorce Won’t Ruin Your Kids
Marriage is one way of housing love. But there are a hundred other houses—sometimes you just have to build them yourself.
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The Ritual
It’s not easy being the mother of a dead child. In fact, it may be the hardest kind of mothering there is.
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Learning to Grow Where Planted: Maggie Smith’s Good Bones
Part of looking closer is seeing what is hard to face, and part of having courage is addressing what seems futile.
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My Son’s Tutu
The thing I’ve learned about kids is that you only ever get a glimpse of the grown-up people they’ll become.
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Rumpus Original Fiction: She Hated the Child
She didn’t want anything to change. She understood it would be easier if she loved the child. But she did not want to love it.
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Mothering Our Children and Ourselves: Molly Caro May’s Body Full of Stars
As May moves through what she now calls her “postpartum challenge,” she does not return to her old self, but instead becomes someone new.
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Promises
[A]fter Jonah died, I quit making promises to my children because I break them. They forgive me. But I fail to offer that grace to myself. So, I don’t make promises.
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Splintered Doors
This journey is ongoing. But I know this: my daughter will never have to break down a door.
