Ekphrastic Mama

Ekphrastic Mama

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I am the mother of three daughters, each born in a different decade, and three sons in a somewhat closer clump. One "hub" hold us together. This is not what passes for wise family planning in American culture, but as the beat poet Alice Notley wrote, “I didn’t plan my pregnancies. I’m an experimentalist.” When I was writing Ekphrastic Mama for Mothers Creating/Writing Lives: Motherhood Memoir, I took stock of our family span: with one child married, one in college, one in high school, one in junior high, an elementary schooler, a toddler, and now a grandbaby, I was experiencing all phases of motherhood simultaneously. Years later I'm still experimenting with ekphrasis- art that speaks out- and hoping to inspire others in their writing ventures.
Lori's face next to a large face sculpture in Angers

Mother’s Day Again- in France

Adventure Mom

C’est la fête des mères en France aujourd’hui… without much more than a whim for a plan I seem to have planned it just right to have two Mother’s Days in one month– France celebrates the mother two weeks later than America. But I’m alone, no children in sight, so how to celebrate? Because I do love the celebratory life of all six children having safely reached adulthood… why not celebrate again in France? It’s Sunday so all the church bells are ringing in Angers where I came to attend the literary conference aptly named Possible Futures (the whim)… But that was yesterday. Today I searched for a church nearby. If you want to get to know people in a community, consider church, if you can. If you are trying to learn French, you will get to hear it sung, and sing along, if you like. I found a small…

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Lori with purple backpack

Embrace the Adventure…

Adventure

with a purple backpack, and clapping! I got off the train today in Angers (France) in a hurry– the train was late leaving and then somehow the time went by too quickly and caught me in the bathroom when the stop came… I rushed to grab my gear, then find my way to the hotel. I was a bit weighed down with a full size Thule backpack, the kind you might pack to hike the Grand Randonnée. I also carried a rather heavy REI messenger bag with my computer, books and purse inside. I’m headed to a conference put on by the English Library here. Of course, I went the wrong way. I could’ve taken a taxi but I thought I should be able to make it less than a mile to the hotel, choosing the shady sides of streets. About halfway there, each step a bit beleaguered by the…

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Coming of Age

Adventure Mom

Happy Mother’s Day 2025 On May 1 our youngest daughter turned 18 making this the first Mother’s day in 43 years that all six of our children are adults. It feels like a huge achievement–on the Richter scale of motherhood, like at 6.0- enough shake to stir things up, but not do damage. In the spirit of celebration, I’ve taken up cold water plunging, or swimming, because after you get in and regain your breath, you might as well stay for a while. Arielle suggested we take a plunge and swim in the Columbia River for her 18th birthday. The river is about 52 degrees right now. In preparation I read the book Chill: the Cold Water Swim Cure. It was frightening, exhilarating, and breathtaking (époustouflant in French)– all at once. It was the perfect celebration for the occasion. I’m hooked. After about three minutes I don’t want to get…

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John dancing with Lily at her wedding

I Hope You Dance

Adventure

When it was our turn to dance as parents I could hardly remember how to move my feet, but then John reminded me of the steps. He whispered quick, quick, slow, slow… I was a little numb at the time, but his words, simple as they were, made it to my feet, coaxing them into a rhythm.

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The Ekphrastic Letter

Epiphanies

Dear Mother,
I should’ve cleaned your fingernails before you died. I know dirty fingernails never bothered you, but in that last photo I took of you where your hands wrap around the ceramic mug of fresh coffee I brought with real cream, instead of the styrofoam cup of instant with powder packets you’d been getting—-in that picture the gleam is back in your eyes, feisty again, but a dark, dirty rim lines each fingernail. I regret not offering to clean your nails, but at the time it didn’t occur to me. You had lots of life left in you. You could’ve cleaned your own fingernails….

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May is a Mother of a Month

Prompts

17 years ago today, at age 47 1/2, I gave birth to my third daughter, our six child.Somewhere along the line we realized May 1 is my 1/2 birthday (and Nov. 1, is Arielle’s 1/2 birthday). This is a child who loves to celebrate, and a child we love celebrating. at the wedding reception for Marie & Jerome in Burgundy France, 2023 Today, after birthday dinner and opening gifts, including 9 sketchbooks because she loves to draw and ran out of sketchbooks last week, she reviewed her life in pictures on my phone. She commented on our many trips together- Iceland, England, Germany last year, France several times… so many good times together, but all too soon it will be time for her to leave home. 17 begins a countdown to adulthood, graduation and college, and/or possibly marriage. Her sister, our middle daughter, is getting married at the end of…

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cut-out 1950s head of a woman

Paper Doll Mom

Prompts

This is an excerpt of a flash memoir piece I recently wrote. What artifacts do you have that might spur on your writing? It’s a fun way to play with items you’ve been left with while reminiscing through the past, bringing life to your present work.

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