Motherhood, an announcement.

Somehow it is February!

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm as I enter the second month of this brave new Substack world. In exchange, you can be the first to hear about an event I’m announcing next week. But how will you get back on stage after two years and one baby? By hosting an event about Motherhood! That’s right.

JW3 have invited me to curate an event in celebration of International Women’s Day, and I, in turn, have invited three inestimable writers — Tahmima Anam, Lauren Elkin & Sophie Heawood.

Please join us for an evening of songs, readings and conversation about the wonders and challenges of becoming a mother, being a mother and creating as a mother…

Thursday 3rd March 7.30pm (UK time)

One positive side-effect of the pandemic, dare I say it, is that tickets are available both In-building and On-line, so if you can’t make it in person you can still watch live from wherever you are in the world:

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I thought I might take this opportunity, as I psych myself up over the coming weeks, to share some motherhood-themed work with you. I have rather a lot of it… but that’s another story. Literally. The truth is — no, wait. We’ll get there. I’m not quite ready. For now I’ll start with a little poem. A poem?! Why the hell not, I haven’t slept in 8 months.

I hear you cry
A never-ending cry
But it is only the washing machine
Whirring as I nap
Try to nap, I should say
A rare moment alone
While you walk with your Papa
Roll is more accurate
While Papa walks and you roll
And the machine spins
So much laundry these days
Your tiny clothes
Full of milk, vomit and worse
Our huge clothes
Full of milk, vomit and worse
No wonder the machine is complaining
Moaning and groaning
I cannot sleep
I miss your cry
Roll on home and wake me up! 

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And lastly, for those of you who missed it over the holidays, it feels tenuously appropriate to re-share the video for the Christmas song I released with JF — it was written for The Line Of Best Fit’s Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada XIII compilation and stars a certain baby…

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See you next Sunday!