Mother Body

by Diamond Forde

Mother Body is an intersectional exploration of the trauma and agency held within a body defined by its potential to mother. As Mother Body unfolds, it tasks its reader to understand the expected and unexpected manifestations of motherhood, through menstruation and womb work, but also generational, societal, and literary mothering. With a variety of forms and modes, these poems unpack the experiences of a fat, black woman’s body while also manifesting joy, resistance, and celebration.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2021

Reviews

[max theodore · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are truths that are true and truths
that are true when I tell them.

i had the pleasure of hearing diamond forde read and it knocked me on my ass, and by the end of the second poem i needed her book in my hands. her second collection hasn't come out yet--though she read a few pieces and i am DESPERATE to get my hands on it--but this collection is full and flush and stunning and very worth your time even if you, like me, struggle sometimes with modern poetry. forde writes about blackness and womanhood and fatness and sex and desire and the body and the family and about wanting; her command of language and line breaks is exquisite (sooooo many good internal rhymes and enjambed jolts in here).

Tell me my belt wraps the world's waist
then beat me with it.

i was going to list my favorite poems but it ended up being like half of them and most of them aren't available online for me to link. so read this one ("On the Way Home from a Business Trip, fat girl Pulls into a McDonald’s Drive-Thru in a Town She’ll Never See Again") because the language in it is gorgeous and it gives a good thematic picture of forde's poetic obsessions. and then you should buy the rest of this collection, probably.

a scar is a seam still hemming
memory to a body

[Arielle Hebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this debut collection. These poems are in large part a praise of women’s/fat/Black bodies, asking questions about the simultaneous invisibility and hyper-visibility of these bodies as they move through the world. The cover art for this collection is stunning, and pairs so well with the poems. Some of my favorite poems include: “Fat Girl Climaxes while Working Out at the Gym,” “Breath Ode,” “What I Have To Give,” and “Fat Girl Is Obsessed with Jelly Fish.”

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful. i love poetry. i love women!

[Samantha]

Sealey Challenge 2023
Book 16

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the honor of being in conversation with Diamond, this past summer, and received a signed copy of this book as gift. I just got to it now, but remember fondly, the generative conversations Diamond and I had back in August. This book is, in a word, remarkable: braiding reflections on trauma with micro-manifestos on desire, Mother Body runs the gamut of feeling with ease. Dimond’s engagements with pop culture and literature are well-placed, particularly as she mines unlikely sources for a vivid, fat politics-centered critique of white supremacy and body fascism. A tremendous and polished book that deserves all its accolades and then some.

[Lucas Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A scar is a seam still hemming/ a memory to a body” is one of the absolute best lines I have ever read

[Rashaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diamond Forde's Motherbody is a poetry collection of 34 poems that addresses a woman's body, exploring it, and identifying with and redefining being a "fat girl." She uses a variety of poetic forms such as elegy, ballard, praise, and ode to get her message across with succinct word play and wit. Some of my favorite poems were: "My Ex-boyfriend is a Dick Joke," "Breathe Ode," and "On The Way Home From A Business Trip, Fat Girl Pulls Into A McDonald's Drive-thru In A Town She'll Never See Again." In the last poem mentioned the line:

"Oh, fat girl--
You are perfect in your longing.
Who hasn't wanted to be filet mignon?
To melt, in buttery love, on a belovéd tongue"

stayed with me. Beautifully written. I know that feeling well the love for delicious food being eaten. But as a Black guy, it was eye opening to read the unwavering challenges one can personally and externally face from society about a woman's body. A poetry collection worth your time and finger snaps.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. It was read to me, so I can’t pull any specific quotes, but it was an attention-grabbing book among all the other young poets. I found myself nodding along and/or muttering “damn” at the end of almost every piece.

The speaker’s piercing eye is unsparing, whether she gazes upon herself or others. We travel with her on her journey towards self-acceptance and love. There are frequent internal rhymes, which really stands out when you read the pieces out loud (highly recommend, although I can’t comment on line breaks or enjambment).

Definitely recommend this book—you won’t be able to put it down.

[katherine ⚢ · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful command of language

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems about the body, family, identity, survival, and desire.

from Three Lessons on the Adolescent Body: "In a game, we build lines from linked arms, construct ourselves / a fence to wreck / again again. We, children. So destructive. // So miraculous."

from The Last Time You are Close to Your Body: "Your / stepmother would never wear that bathrobe, would never touch anything / that feels like poverty he palms—she will never hold you."

from On the Way Home from a Business Trip, Fat Girl Pulls into a McDonald's Drive-Thru in a Town She'll Never See Again: "They both know fat girl can't afford this meal— // fat a currency, the nickels and dimes of a kilogram // and fat girl wealthy already—"

[Amy]

Favorite title: There's No Praise in Me for Me

Favorite poem: My Ex-Boyfriend Is a Dick Joke

Favorite lines:
I joke about chucking my fat sat uterus/every period.
to breathe slow/in the blue bar of a cop's light
fan/their skirts in open ocean, slap/shut, a copper latch
golden-eagled/and apex,//hip and hoof, gut/and tusk. She will not apologize//for the animal she's become/for once.
a jellyfish's rainbowed remains
nematocysts barbed to protect, even, their rot

[zoya b · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75, for contemporary poetry. Not really my vibe in terms of subject matter but I respect how wrenchingly honest this book was. Was also very cool again to have the opportunity to hear Diamond Forde read some her poems from this work when she zoomed into our class and I am definitely going to be on the lookout for her next book :) Favorite poem from this book would probably be “Three Lessons on the Adolescent Body”!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love this collection so much. Like L. Lamar Wilson’s blurb on the back of the book said, this work is “a new consciousness in American poetics”.

Countless times I was just floored by what she achieved with language, too. She’s inventive, smart, extremely creative, and makes you look at both language and existence in new, wonderful ways.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I pray my breath exists- in someone else someday- someone who jogs, perhaps. Or at least someone who doesn't know what it means to cry on her 25th birthday amazed to still have breath left to lose."

Loved this collection!! "STILL LIFE WITH FAT GIRL, POST-COITUS" and "FAT GIRL CLIMAXES WHILE WORKING OUT AT THE GYM" are 2 new all time favorite poems!!

[Claudia Cortese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fierce, funny, beautiful poems about fat sexuality, the body, childhood trauma, food, love, beauty. Love love love!!

[Lisa Eirene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fierce, powerful poems. About blackness, fatness, womanhood and everything in between. Loved it

[isra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 💫

[Erin Matson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, provocative, fresh.

[Hannah Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Celebratory and irreverent.

"Your stepmother would never wear that bathrobe, would never touch anything that feels like poverty on the palms--she will never hold you."

[michelle-belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

Beautiful cover. Poems of menstruation, family, sex, McDonalds. It really is a womb-bloomed love letter. Unanticipated Little Free Library poetry books save me.

[sarah! · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh this was so lovely. i saw myself in so many of these poems, and learned so much about other identities.

[Spencer Washington · Rating 4 out of 5]

truly a poetic piece about self love, healing, and seeing yourself as beautiful before letting others decide that for you