Being a new mom is hard in ways that most people never even consider.
Little to no sleep, constant worry and the stress of keeping your child happy and healthy are compounded by outside pressures such a societal norms and balance of career and family life.
The personality and person you had been before motherhood seems to be submerged under this catch-all ideal of “mom.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Callista Buchen, a Franklin College professor and writer, explores these ideas and her own emotions with a heartfelt collection of prose poems. “Look Look Look” is a series of poetry that focuses on the early days of parenthood and the types of challenges new parents face.
She started writing drafts of the poems eight years ago, when she was pregnant with her first child, in a way to challenge her own personal experience and the experiences of other mothers share, particularly with a lack of visibility as people.
“It’s something that happens to a lot of us, but doesn’t get talked about. I was hoping in these poems to talk about it, to say the things that I was thinking, feeling, experiencing, but also giving voice to things that maybe other people were experiencing but felt that they couldn’t say,” she said.
“Look Look Look” is Buchen’s first published collection of poetry. She has previously published “Double-Mouthed” and “The Bloody Planet” as chapbooks, or small paperback booklets. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Harpur Palate, Puerto del Sol and Fourteen Hills.
In addition to teaching creative writing at Franklin College, she advises Apogee, the student-led literary journal, in addition to directing the school’s visiting writers reading series.
As part of that series, Buchen will present at 7 p.m. today at Hamilton Auditorium in the campus library. Prior to that, she spoke with the Daily Journal to discuss some of the ideas and emotions behind the book.
What is the theme or idea behind “Look Look Look”?
“It’s a book about being a new parent. All of the poems are about those messy, early days when everything changes.”
What sort of emotions or feelings did you try to delve into?
“When I was writing them, I was feeling kind of lost, both as a person and as a writer, that once I had my children, I didn’t know just who I was. I think that’s a common feeling, but it’s a feeling that people don’t talk very much about. It makes that difficulty, knowing who you are in this new world of parenthood, that much more distressing.”
What was it like processing those feelings and putting them into poetry?
“It was really helpful to find a space to say the things I was feeling. I love my children, and I love being their parent, even when they were babies and things were really hard. But that love didn’t negate how difficult being a parent is, especially in the beginning. Having space to say out loud, feeling that I was communicating with someone, was very healthy for me and helped me feel, address, articulate things in a way that helped me.”
How long were you working on this collection?
“A long time. It feels like another child, a little bit. When I first started seriously writing it until now, it was five years. So it would be a toddler by this time. It’s like I’m sending it off to kindergarten.”
What is it like now that the collection has been released?
“It’s very gratifying. It’s a lesson in persistence, even just believing in the project. It’s also been harder than I thought, to sort of let it go. I thought writing it was hard. Releasing it into the world is a whole other thing.”
What do you hope people take away from this collection?
“We sometimes think of poetry as really lofty or fancy or something we can’t understand, that it’s meant for someone else. I hope that people find these poems really accessible. They’re prose poems, so they’re not in line, they’re like short vignettes, little mini-stories that use some poetic strategies. I hope lots of people are able to see themselves and their experiences.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
"An Evening with Callista Buchen"
What: A presentation by Callista Buchen, a local writer and Franklin College creative writing professor. Buchen will be reading from her debut collection of poetry, titled "Look Look Look."
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Hamilton Auditorium, B.F. Hamilton Library, Franklin College campus
Cost: Free and open to the public
How to get the book: Wild Geese Bookshop will have copies available to purchase at the event.
Information: franklincollege.edu; callistabuchen.com
[sc:pullout-text-end]
