Fothermather

Description: Winner of The Ink Sweat & Tears / Cafe Writers Pamphlet Commission Prize 2017

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 MICHAEL MARKS AWARD FOR POETRY
Fothermather is an exploration of parenthood beyond the categories of mother and father, and a celebration of new life in new language.

With a playfully genderqueer title containing both father and mother , Fothermather explores love, language and forms of attachment beyond biology. Bobbing in its sea, we find the seahorse: the curious queer creature who patterns the pages. Playful, political and inquisitive, these poems chart the experience of IVF, pregnancy and parenthood for a family taking shape in Northern Ireland, where same-sex marriage is illegal and NHS fertility treatment is withheld from same-sex couples.