Poetry and Prose: A Mixture of Marvellous Mums.

In like a lion and out like a lamb
I believe that’s what they say
With all this rain and all this wind
Let’s hope that we see the sun’s ray
The clocks go forward, days draw long
Looking forward to outside play
No more cooped up inside the house
The beginning of sunnier days.

Victoria Welton 4th March 2014

I don’t know about you but despite the fact that February is a short month, it has been so busy out there! There are so many things going on that I would like to get my teeth stuck into and really want to do everything, but I guess I need to prioritise!

This month has seen the start of a new campaign from Save the Children in a bid to end newborn deaths. Every year 2.9 million babies die before they see their first month, many of which don’t get to see their #firstday. The campaign is calling for more trained midwives, more medicines and better equipment. Chris Mosler over at Thinly Spread has been working tirelessly to help spread the word. One of the things that was discussed at the Blogger Conference at the beginning of February was how life may have been affected if you had never been born. This is something that affects everybody – not just parents. I tried to capture this feeling in my poem #firstday.

I was finally able to join the Open Mic Night for poets which Stephanie from Beautiful Misbehaviour holds every month. This is an opportunity to join a Google Hangout with a glass of wine or two and read aloud/perform your poetry. She was also joined by Helen from All At Sea and Sarah from Supper and Syntax, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. To find out more then pop over to Steph’s blog.

At the Open Mic Night, Helen from All At Sea read a beautiful poem which she wrote for her husband, entitled ‘Ross’. Love really did seem to be in the air this month with Valentines Day inspiring a number of people. There was a love of dippy eggs from Supper and Syntax, of different shapes from The Poetry Wagon and for buskers from Blue Beret Mum. Emily over at Tealady Mumbles shared a beautiful poem about love in old age which was written by her Mum whilst Emily’s Page shared a poem of First Love. David at Lovely 2 C U shared an alternative fairytale and Mumaleary posted about love of a sisterly kind.

There was so much love of the mothering kind too. I am constantly in awe of the amount of beautiful poetry there is from mothers to their children, and there was so many of them this month. They include ‘Without You’ from Chasing Dreams and Jelly Beans, ‘Eight Months Old’ from Lets Talk Mommy, ‘Tired’ from And Baby Makes Three, ‘Night Shift’ Worker from Beautiful Misbehaviour and ‘Birth’ from Secrets of the Sandpit. I really enjoyed this piece of fiction from Writing Bubble for her son’s birthday, called ‘Fit for a King’. It’s always a bittersweet feeling to see your children grow up. Shaking Away the Cobwebs captured this beautifully in ‘Thoughts of Yesterday’ as did Rambling Through Parenthood with ‘You Know You Are A Grown Up’.

I do think that there is nothing stronger though than the protection of a mother when their children are threatened. Emma at Life As It Is experienced it recently when her daughter, at the very young age of 5, was the victim of bullying at school. She wrote a poem to share her experiences.

There were, of course, some brilliantly funny verses which include a fantastic ode to nits entitled ‘A Letter to Mr and Mrs Nit’ from A Mish Mash Life, and a poem from Distressed Housewife who wrote a rather funny ‘Ode to the Tumble Dryer’.

One of the things I really enjoy about following poetry is it’s diversity. I find that it is constantly evolving. There are some really talented people out there including youngsters such as young Aalliyah over at My Sidekick and Me who wrote a fantastic piece. Elizabeth – who writes as White Feathers and More – has started a beautiful new creative writing blog over at Waiting to Bloom and Kate on Thin Ice is in the throws of a new novel. One person who has really impressed me with her skills is Redpeffer who has been taking writing prompts from pretty much everyone and formed them into a fabulous piece of fiction.

Finally, I would like to end this month’s round up on the subject of Life. I think everyone becomes aware of their mortality now and again and there is some beautiful work out there which encompasses this. This week Vicky over at A Cupcake Mum is remembering the loss of her Mum this week and has published a poem she wrote at the time of her loss, two years ago. There is a flash fiction piece from Supper and Syntax which captured my attention, as did A Stroll With My Heart with the poem ‘Life As We Know’. Whilst this isn’t an original piece, Distressed Housewife shared one of the most beautiful poems about death, loss and the life you have lived. It is called ‘The Dash‘. Please read this, it is simply wonderful.

Next month Helen from All At Sea will once again be your poetry and prose editor and I will be back in May. Enjoy the return of Spring, Easter and chocolate eggs!

About Victoria Welton

Victoria is a forty something Mum to Grace and Rex, partner to writer and actor Ross and lives in the beautiful countryside of Somerset. A blogger since 2012, she has been writing poetry and lyrics for years and has been lucky enough to perform two of her songs on stage. You can find her blog at Verily Victoria Vocalises. From there she runs a poetry link ‘Prose For Thought’on the first Thursday of every month. She is also a professional photographer, having started her business on her return from maternity leave.