Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Bad Mommy Stay Mommy by Elisabeth Horan. It's poetry, a book filled with brutally honest words describing inner torment.
Elisabeth Horan is an imperfect creature advocating for animals, children and those suffering alone and in pain - especially those ostracized by disability and mental illness. Elisabeth is honored to serve as Poetry Editor at Anti-Heroin Chic Magazine, and is Co-Owner of Animal Heart Press. She recently earned her MFA from Lindenwood University and received a 2018 Best of the Net Nomination from Midnight Lane Boutique, and a 2018 Pushcart Prize Nomination from Cease Cows.
Elisabeth lives in rural Vermont with her husband and two young sons. When not being poet, she works as a secretary and loves riding horses & dancing the salsa---
Follow @ehoranpoet on Twitter,Visit ehoranpoet.com
Buy Bad Mommy Stay Mommy
About the book
Elisabeth Horan was in the grip of postpartum depression after the birth of her second son, 'red and writhing a salamander underfoot'. In this collection, Elisabeth finds the courage to survive. Uplifting, guttural: Horan leaves her reader roaring for more.
There is an ongoing attempt to bring the scary misunderstood and taboo topic of mental health into the sunlight. There is a stigma surrounding the topic and it's time for there to be a better understanding of what comes under the description of mental health illness, how it is treated and how it affects the lives of those living and dealing with it.
It isn't a solitary diagnosis. Family members, loved ones and sometimes even society become part of the circle surrounding that one person.
It's graphic, in a sense that she describes emotions and situations that usually stay hidden inside our heads. Not being able to cope is deemed a weakness, as is being overwhelmed and frustrated. I would say this is particularly the case when it comes to women and postpartum depression. There is any extra layer of judgement reserved for women who appear to society to be unable to fulfil the role of motherhood in the way that is expected of them.
There is this automatic expectation of a maternal bond between mother and child. A switch that is flipped for every woman, but the truth is that it doesn't happen that way for all women. Our own thought processes, emotions and hormones betray us in the most unexpected way. In a way that makes the woman a social pariah, because not embracing your child and not exhibiting emotions that are expected of us, it's incomprehensible to many people.
The poetry has a staccato feel to it, almost as if the author is thrusting her words towards us. Towards anyone, in an attempt to make someone pay attention. Hear me, hear my pain and confusion.
It's poetry, a book filled with brutally honest words describing the inner torment she feels.
I'll leave you with words by Horan, which describe my reading experience of this book quite well: 'You have been unnerved by me'.
Buy Bad Mommy Stay Mommy at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Fly on the wall poetry; pub date 10 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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