Robbie’s Inspiration: A Mother’s Lament: A Collection of Poems by Nikki Rodwell

What Amazon says

They say the pain of childbirth is made more bearable by the fact it is ‘pain with a purpose’. Sometimes the pain that mother’s experience later is equally, if not more, painful. Through her poems Nikki gives purpose to that pain and hopes that mothers who have grieved in any way or struggled with their relationships, will relate to her words.

Making sense of pain is a complex and personal journey. In this collection of poems, Nikki bears her soul and reveals that the deeper the grief, the deeper the love. Although it’s easy to feel disempowered and lost within pain, she demonstrates how, by stepping into it, we can give ourselves permission to heal.

My review

I reviewed this book in my capacity as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team. If you would like your book reviewed, you can contact Rosie Amber here: http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/.

This collection of poems has an undertone of deep sadness and each poem revolves around loss and the erosion of parent and child relationships. I had a close relationship with my parents when I was growing up, especially my mother who was an open minded person and easy to relate too at that time. I was able to confide in my mother without fear of judgement or rejection. My relationship with my dad was a little more ‘pitted’ as I was ‘a daughter’ but it was still a good and solid relationship which I could depend on.

The poems in this book describe breakdowns in parental relationships which I found tragic. Although I don’t have personal experience with this, and I hope I never will have, I can relate to it through friends, both when I was a youngster, and now as a mother.

The emotions of the poet in A Mother’s Lament are strong and vibrant, a bit like screams of frustration on a page.

My favourite poem in the collection is Mirage, as follows:
“I see you through fog misted glass
three shadows blurred around the edges
Sun catches the crystal
blinding my vision,
highlighting the grimy smears.
I strain to keep you in focus
but you are fading.
I wipe the dirt,
my hands heavy with shame,
but you still don’t appear;
my mind was playing tricks.
Was it a mirage?
The glass remains cloudy.
I step outside
to the lonely space where you once stood,
and discover:
the glass was dirty on the outside.”

For me, this poem embodied the essence of this collection. The sadness, guilt, desperate wish for reconciliation, and also the disappointment and frustration at the mother’s lack of success in bridging the gap.

An excellent collection of heart breaking and vivid poems.

Purchase A Mother’s Lament: A Collection of Poems

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