MotherFlux

MotherFlux is the collaborative work of three queer parent-poets from the margins of (m)otherhood.

From embryonic dreamers and pregnancy-performers to sleep-deprived newbies and seasoned second-timers, their poems are raw, messy, and unflinching reflections on what it means to be a parent, and to make a family. The pamphlet considers gender, sexuality, politics, and the body as it moves between heightened individual experiences to outright rejections of societal expectations.

These are voices recording in real time, mothering in flux.

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Erica Gillingham

Erica Gillingham (she/her) is a queer poet, writer, and bookseller living in London via Siskiyou County, California. She works as a bookseller at Gay’s The Word bookshop and serves as the Poetry Editor for The Signal House Edition. Her debut poetry pamphlet The Human Body is a Hive was published by Verve Poetry Press, and her poetry and essays have been published in various journals, anthologies, and radio, including in 100 Queer Poems; 365 Poems for Life; Queer Life, Queer Love; and on BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts. She exists online at www.ericagillingham.com and @ericareadsqueer.

maternity wear, but make it tomboy femme

no animal print or chintzy florals or stupid sailor stripes

no pastel pink or constant black or every shade of beige

I want ombre looks and button-up shirts

the softest plaids in technicolour

capsule wardrobes with mouth-watering names

girlfriend jeans with the deepest of pockets

strong, extra-long muscle tanks, fitted tees

cotton t-shirt dresses with cuffed sleeves

carefully curated trainer collections for widening feet

with coordinated pop socks, a whole range

coupled with a coupon for your next undercut

endless wool and summer shackets with hip allowance

expanding crew neck sweatshirts, sturdy enough to last,

built to be passed on to someone else like

Jem Henderson

Jem Henderson (they/them) is a genderqueer poet from Leeds, winner of a Creative Future award for underrepresented writers. genderfux, their first collaboration came out February 2022. an othered mother, their first pamphlet, is out now from Nine Pens and a collaborative collection with Chris Cambell, small plates, is available from Broken Sleep.

Nazi bra sized

a dad at the school gates -

neck tattooed with eighty eight

it could be the year he was born -

we're all about that age, but I

stood a few more steps away

looked around when he looked my way

and now my tits betray me. 30HH

the label says. totalitarian titties

brownshirt knockers. fleshy faschy bosoms

which I can barely hold up, my back a wreck

and most men can no longer

look me in the eye

JP Seabright

JP Seabright (she/they) is a queer disabled writer living in London. They have four solo pamphlets published and two collaborations, encompassing poetry, prose and experimental work. They explore themes of gender, sexuality, trauma and the climate crisis in their work, and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Forward Prize (twice) as well as shortlisted (twice) for a Saboteur Award for Best Collaborative Work. More info at https://jpseabright.com via Twitter @errormessage and @jpseabright everywhere else.

Mummy, you’re a boy

my daughter declares with confidence

No I’m not, I reply

with some lack of certainty

Girls can have short hair too, I say

the word girl sticking in my throat

like her pink plastic chicco.

She pauses, gives this some thought

Mummy, you’re a girlboy

I shrug, we accept this as truth.

͂ ͂ ͂

I always imagined I’d make a good dad

play with my kid

encourage them in everything they do

tell them I love them

just like my own father

didn’t.

I shrug, accept my truth as girlboy mumdad.

Sometimes, we make our own role models.