Family Light

Family Light: Shining Light on the Poetic voices of Families

In May 2020 I was part of a poetry book called ‘Mother Light’ through my training provider Blossom & Berry with my poem ‘To Flourish from Birth & Beyond’. This booked raised £600 for Love Support Unite, supporting vulnerable families in Malawi through the Mphatso Children’s Foundation. Gayle, founder of Blossom & Berry, opened up this idea to our teacher collective to create a ‘mini’ series of Mother Light. Having just published Motherly Love in a Pandemic I wasn’t sure if there would be much interest or involvement but I put the feelers out there and, just like the first book, I was overwhelmed by the response I received. This time I seemed to have reached further afield with not only local parents but parents who have small business’ and reaching both a female & male audience. Submissions for poems came in and I was blown away and amazed at the creativity, beautiful writing and honesty that was being shared with me.

I was so grateful and humbled by the experiences people are having during lockdown and there are many poems which reflect not only general feelings of lockdown but diving deep into mental health and its effects all while also receiving poems about waiting for new life to arrive, grieving the loss of a baby, celebrating a new life and the trials and tribulations of parenthood from both Mothers & Fathers. This book is called Family Light because not only do we have parents of children of various ages, delays, labels and general lockdown frustrations but we also have brothers, sisters, aunties, nephews, a teacher, a childminder and step parents which all reflect light into our families each and every day.

We may also read darker poems which can seem counterintuitive to the title but those people are shining light on their words of despair, anxiety and worry, putting them out there to be read by so many and healing through creative cathartic writing. There are so many wonderful poems in this book, not only do I hope that all contributors feel proud and excited to be part of this book, I hope the readers will embrace each individual poem and know that these all reflect family life and light in so many ways.

‘Poetry is my deepest health’ Sylvia Plath

“Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light” Brené Brown

The profits from this book will go to the Scottish Association for Mental Health (Scottish Charity: SC-008897) who support adults and young people with mental health struggles through social care support, services in primary care, schools & further education and have needed much support throughout 2020.