Overview

"The shaping of a mother - from urgency of maternal drive to discovering what nestles buried within the small print lies here. Deep-seated longing for a child, when endlessly thwarted carrying to term, gives way to the joy of new-borns. Bitingly acute fears, sometimes tiger-rage when children are hurt, are forensically examined - through to the bitter-sweetness of their flight. The raw, organic, ever-evolving transformations throughout motherhood, are reflected through both personal narrative and more universally. Once motherhood takes hold - there is no letting go. All within the nest is held as safely as love can make it, within that gentle paperclip clasp. ""a mother is a paperclip is a timeless collection with poems so alive to language they animate and vitalise the 'fulsome dark' of motherhood in all its joys, fears, and furies."" - Kaddy Benyon, The Mirror and its Fragments ""Karen Francis 'nails it' for motherhood in a mother is a paperclip. In these poems the 'threads of life' are woven into a magical tapestry in which personal stories are depicted with a touching realism. Reference to Animal Myth and Legends widen the scope and bring to the fore a sense of mother as archetype'"" -Anne Bailey, What the house taught us ""This debut by Karen Francis reads like a love letter to motherhood - not schmalzy or sickly sweet - this is a warts and all examination of the ups and downs of being a parent (and a grandparent). Full of tenderness and innovative use of language - Karen takes us on a journey and keeps us right there with her through every small and major bump in the road - showing us that you never stop being a parent, however old your children are."" -Julia Webb, The Telling. Poetry Society Stanza winner 2011 and Battered Moon Winner 2018"

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9781916830110

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Word-wrangler, needle-wielder and poet, Karen hones her craft in beautiful Norfolk, since retirement from Education. She is interested in connections, everyday irony, small passions, and the less heard voices, that society often renders invisible. a mother is a paperclip won Hedgehog Press 'Slim volume, 2022. Several other collections, My Father's Daughter, A Little Female Introspection, and At the still point of the turning world, have been Highly Commended or Commended in competitions 2021-2023 and she has work published in Hedgehog Press anthologies. Words can't be unsaid was published by Home Stage for National Poetry Day, 2021. She increasingly steps out of comfort zone for open mic slots in the online poetry world.

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