Mama Tried

Fierce poems that take us into a classroom of at-risk children, and into the anxieties of motherhood.

If I do not write today / I will never write another poem--let us be grateful, then, that B. Elizabeth Beck wrote that day, and many others, resulting in the poems that make up her new chapbook, MAMA TRIED. And try she does, this mother and teacher. Perhaps the best word to describe her collection is fierce--both the poems and the poet. She writes with passion, and compassion, for her students, Lost casualties / of a public education that speaks /about serving but never actually does / anything beyond talking--children dealing with poverty and shattered homes and, some, the constant threat of deportation, struggling for an education in the midst of active shooter drills and a society that views them as marginal. And as the mother of a child with a blood disorder, a child she admonishes to Quit growing up so fast, Beck also confronts the anxiety of parenting, a series / of choices. Where / is that handbook I / received when you / were born? In a way, she creates a handbook here, reminding us all of the most important lesson: don't give up / you matter.

Poetry.
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