Gwendolyn Rivers was a 20th-century American poet who was born and raised in Kansas. She was a supportive, loving role model for all color poets. She was a regular participant in poetry events where she stayed until the last line was read. Gwendolyn won the Pulitzer Prize as the first woman of color. Her poems were full of political consciousness. This was important for her since she was a voice in civil rights movements and emphasized black beauty. The Mother is a poem by Gwendolyn. It depicts how a mother feels from beginning to end after she discovers she is pregnant. This is to prove that abortion is killing a person.
The first few lines of the text are about a fetus who was forced to die by her mother. These descriptions describe what they could have been and what their mother would have seen in their lifetimes, but she will not see it. She is talking to her “dim-killed children” at line 11. They are discussing the pain of having to go through childbirth but not feeling the suckle. Lines 24 to 32 she attempts to explain her decisions and her judgments but fails to convince herself or even apologize for the things she did. “Believe in me, you all loved me” is the realization of a woman who’s experienced firsthand what it was like to abort her child. She vows to never forget, and the powerful poetry reveals that she is not a normal woman. First, she is called as “the Mother”, but this is to emphasize that she is a Mother. The capital “M”, however, makes it personal. She then talks about the fact that she will never forget this decision. She talks about the chances that this child might be someone. And that she will never be capable of doing the same for others. The speaker’s second stanza contains 20 lines. It almost suggests that this was not an independent decision. In an extremely saddening reality, she discovers that she is the mother of all unborn children. The setting doesn’t exist in a certain place, like a darkroom, circus, but it is somewhere she creates. This is the place she wants to leave.
The first stanza contains intense imagery. Brooks’s words show me the mother of a small child and the infant’s soft head. I also see her laughing and running after the “ghosts that won’t be”. Or when she says that she wants to “never want them to go” without a sigh. I hear the mother wanting to return for a snack, with mother-eye gobbling, of the baby. It is sweet. Stanza 2 shows her thinking about the birth process, baby’s crying, and how they play with each other. Then, these thoughts are abruptly interrupted by the grim words “anyhow you’re dead”. In an intense apology for the loss of lives, the speaker transforms into a mother at the end of the 3rd stanza.
The structure of this poem shows that it’s written in free verse. Brooks is allowed to speak and keep her rhymes back, then return to the couplet rhymes. At times, she flows well and rhymes. But you can tell that Brooks is struggling with her chosen words. The poem is 33 lines long and divided into three stanzas. It’s a short poem that has no meters.
It is an excellent piece of art that gives insight into the experience of having an abortion. This is a politically charged subject today, as well as back in its day. This could have been part in a feminist movement. At a time when women were fighting to be heard over what happens inside their bodies, this poem could have been. This poem started with the strong belief that every female should be able to make their own decisions about what happens. It was a powerful internal dialogue that I read about your feelings. This made me feel sad and forgiving to someone who is going through this.
