Inspiration for the “tired as a mother”

(a poem and a painting)

A brief(ish) reflection before the real post:

I wrote hundreds of poems in my tweens and teens. I wrote maybe a handful or two in my twenties. Possibly one? (mayyyybe two?) in my thirties thus far. So when I saw the prompt for Exhale’s blog hop this month, I was as shocked as anyone that I felt inspired to write a poem, of all things. But I also realized that my own personal brand of poetry has almost always—even in my youngest explorations of the craft—been kind of…logical, I guess is the best word I can come up with.

What I mean is, I don’t think I’ve ever thought of my poetry as being very deep, expertly-crafted, flowy…all the things that my brain thinks it “should” be (or is, when reading published poets’ works). I always seem to start from an idea for a clever pattern or a very specific meter or rhyme scheme and then fit words into that map.

I will write limericks and haiku no problem, because there are clear rules, and I love to follow rules. My annual family Christmas poems follow a rhythmic meter (usually iambic pentameter) and I’m verrrrry particular about not deviating from that. An example (from 2017—not currently pregnant, y’all 😅):

Elated, we flew home with quite some news:

a baby Carnes to come sometime next spring.

We never even felt those jet lag blues,

for such excitement cures near anything!

Anyway, I guess this is probably my imposter syndrome needing to clarify that what you are about to read is not, in my mind, “fine art” level poetry. It’s a cute idea I ran with, I had fun making it, and I hope it inspires a mama out there to find a few minutes to make something playful, too.

“Children are a gift from the Lord”—yes, and a really draining, all-consuming, crazy-making calling. When they’re little, their needs tend to trump yours, and all the talk of filling your own cup feels pretty unachievable those first few years. But there are tiny margins everywhere if you can squint your eyes hard enough to find them. (Maybe we need less Instagram and Netflix, but I digress.) Years from now, your kids might just remember the subtle ways that you carved out time to honor the Almighty by reflecting His image, choosing to create anyway, right in the middle of the joy and the chaos. (May 2023)

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This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series "Create Anyway".