The Long Devotion bookcover

The Long Devotion

Poets Writing Motherhood

Emily Pérez 

(Editor)

Nancy Reddy 

(Editor)

Aracelis Girmay 

(Contribution by)

et al.

Clarissa Mendiola 

(Contribution by)

Shara Lessley 

(Contribution by)

Megan Snyder-Camp 

(Contribution by)

Remica Bingham-Risher 

(Contribution by)

Molly Spencer 

(Contribution by)

Jordan Rice 

(Contribution by)

Heid Erdrich 

(Contribution by)

Laura Da' 

(Contribution by)

Maggie Smith 

(Contribution by)

Camille Guthrie 

(Contribution by)

Shamala Gallagher 

(Contribution by)

Kendra Decolo 

(Contribution by)

Joy Katz 

(Contribution by)

Diannely Antigua 

(Contribution by)

Layli Long Soldier 

(Contribution by)

Raina J. León 

(Contribution by)

Allison Blevins 

(Contribution by)

Catherine Pierce 

(Contribution by)

Pamela Hart 

(Contribution by)

Brenda Shaughnessy 

(Contribution by)

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha 

(Contribution by)

Emmy Pérez 

(Contribution by)

Aimee Nezhukumatathil 

(Contribution by)

Vanessa Angélica Villarreal 

(Contribution by)

Julie Carr 

(Contribution by)

Faylita Hicks 

(Contribution by)

Monica Youn 

(Contribution by)

Joyelle McSweeney 

(Contribution by)

Alison Stine 

(Contribution by)

Carrie Fountain 

(Contribution by)

Alexa Doran 

(Contribution by)

Tina Chang 

(Contribution by)

Nicole Cooley 

(Contribution by)

Emari Digiorgio 

(Contribution by)

Lisa L. Moore 

(Contribution by)

Joy Ladin 

(Contribution by)

Camille T. Dungy 

(Foreword by)

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Description

The Long Devotion is a collection of poems, essays, and writing prompts that celebrates motherhood and creates a space, as poet Molly Spencer has written, to "tell an unlovely truth about family life and not have to take it back."

The poets in this book represent and describe a wide range of experiences. They write about encountering the world anew through their children; intersections of parenting and race; single parenting; adoptive, foster, and step-parenting; life with chronic illness, mental illness, and disability; and the choice to remain childless. The book is divided into four parts. "Difficulty, Ambivalence, and Joy" considers the wonder and challenges of parenting--including infertility, pregnancy, miscarriage, and life with children--and trying to write in the midst of those demands. "The Body and the Brain" explores the cerebral and bodily labor of caregiving and writing. "In the World" brings parents and their children into contact with the natural and political landscape. Finally, "Transitions" looks at how parenting and writing change as children grow up. Poems range from linear narratives and imagistic lyric to poetry comics, speculative futures, and experimental forms. Essays and poems suggest ways to write through the disruptions and chaos of family life. Prompts invite readers to use the work in this book as a starting point for their own poetry.

As candid accounts of motherhood become more prevalent across literary, pop culture, and digital spaces, the way we talk about writing and mothering is changing. Poets have long challenged traditional motherhood narratives. This book brings together a new generation of exciting and provocative voices for the first time.

Product Details

PublisherUniversity of Georgia Press
Publish DateApril 01, 2022
Pages248
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780820360546
Dimensions9.2 X 6.1 X 0.5 inches | 0.8 pounds

About the Author

EMILY PÉREZ is an English and gender studies instructor and grade-level dean at Colorado Academy. She is the author of What Flies Want, winner of the Iowa Prize; House of Sugar, House of Stone; and the chapbooks Backyard Migration Route and Made and Unmade. She lives in Denver, Colorado.
NANCY REDDY is associate professor of writing and first-year studies at Stockton University. She is the author of Pocket Universe; Double Jinx, a 2014 winner of the National Poetry Series; and the chapbook Acadiana. She lives in Collingswood, New Jersey.
CAMILLE T. DUNGY is the University Distinguished Professor in English at Colorado State University. She is the author of four collections of poetry, including Trophic Cascade, winner of the Colorado Book Award. Dungy currently serves as the poetry editor for Orion magazine. She is also coeditor of From the Fishouse, and assistant editor of Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade. Dungy is the recipient of honors including the 2021 American Academy of Poets Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in both poetry and prose. Her poems and essays have been published in Best American Poetry, The 100 Best African American Poems, more than forty other anthologies, and over one hundred print and online journals.
JULIE CARR is a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the recipient of a Grolier Poetry Prize and an Eisner Award in Poetry. Carr's work has appeared in journals such as the Boston Review, New England Review, Epoch, American Letters and Commentary, and TriQuarterly.
VICTORIA CHANG lives in Irvine, California, and received an MFA in poetry from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. She also holds an MA in Asian history from Harvard, along with an MBA from Stanford, and works as a business researcher and writer for the business school. Her first book of poems, Circle, was the winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award. Her poems have appeared in such publications as Best American Poetry 2005, Paris Review, Kenyon Review, and the Washington Post. She is also the editor of Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation.
CHELSEA DINGMAN's first book, Thaw (Georgia), was chosen by Allison Joseph to win the National Poetry Series. Dingman is also the author of the chapbook What Bodies Have I Moved and has won the Southeast Review's Gearhart Poetry Prize, the Sycamore Review's Wabash Prize, the Water-stone Review's Jane Kenyon Poetry Prize, and the South Atlantic Modern Language Association's Creative Writing Award for Poetry. Visit her website: chelseadingman.com.

Reviews

For many mothers, writing isn't optional; it's essential. As Khadijah Queen writes in "Mothering Solo," "Being a mother often makes the act of writing even more urgent, more sanity-saving, more necessary." The Long Devotion is an encouragement to mother writers everywhere that their experiences matter.--Crystal Rowe "Literary Mama"
A necessary text for every mother laboring to make space for her writing in this world.--Katherine Indermaur "Colorado Review"
I loved reading this book--a compelling and timely anthology of poetry and nonfiction devoted to the theme of motherhood. . . .Editors Pérez and Reddy have taken care to organize four sections that offer real insight into the facets of mothering, and they are inclusive in their selections.--Sandra Beasley "author of Made to Explode"
This anthology fulfills a need in the poetry anthology market because not only does it address "typical motherhood" and its challenges, but also single parenting, foster motherhood and adoption, and even more importantly, perspectives across class, race, and sexual preference.--Jeannine Hall Gailey "author of Field Guide to the End of the World"
This worthy book succeeds in its central aspirations: to realize the rich, creative synergies between writing and mothering; to offer sustainable strategies for navigating the demanding and undetermined intersections--bodily, psychologically, ethically, politically, etc.--of writing and mothering; and to promote the knowing of motherhood as valuable both to those who read and write through its lenses, as well as those who don't (yet) share this diverse vantage on humanity.--Geffrey Davis "author of Night Angler"

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