"This beautiful book of poetry fell into my lap just very recently. I was nursing my youngest son who is 22 months old reading a poem on weaning. The emotions that overcame my soul I'm not yet able to articulate, but I knew instantly I needed more. I am so incredibly thankful to have found this work of art. Breastfeeding and motherhood changes us in our core and we are all connected in this way. This is an amazing gift for any mama you know." - Barbara Demske, founder of The First Latch

Everyone has a mother. Many of us have children in our lives, even if they aren't ours by blood. Children take a lot of work. After Jessica Bates gave birth to her first child in 2014, she wrote poems about birth, motherhood, breastfeeding, and sleepy baby days. She also wrote about fears that come with mothering, and the bond of family across generations.

An excerpt from the poem Weaning:

O, drink from me, sweet son
who came from the black depths
of my body.
You latch on and power up,
drawing energy from my currents.
I shoot you little shards
of bone and with them your body
continues its work, building the bone, brewing the blood, fattening
the folds of you.
You suck and I tingle from skull to heel,
struck with a tuning fork and humming
in the blue light of a darkened bedroom.

I try to feel my own edges in the
low light. I send my mind to the
outer edges of me — where do I end?
I send myself to my innermost edges,
and I see that in both directions
I am infinite.

Jessica wanted to bring to light some of the issues, complications, joys, fears, and major feelings that parenting bring out. With encouragement and support from her writing club The Paper State, she birthed her second child in the form of this book.