Jordemoder: Poems of a Midwife

by Ingrid Andersson

"Ingrid Andersson's poems are well crafted and passionate at once. They are rooted in her family, her work as a midwife birthing babies in a natural age-old way, her own motherhood and her travels. Her work reveals an identification with and close observation of birds, mammals including herself and her clients, flowers, trees, the seasons. These poems offer both insight and joy."--Marge Piercy, author of  On the Way Out, Turn Off the Poems
A Swedish-American midwife is a Best of the Net poet and Pushcart Prize nominee, and has released her bold, life-affirming debut poetry collection.
"A midwife is in the thick of it, she sees it all," Jennifer Worth, author of Call the Midwife . It is midwifing in its broadest sense—from releasing a newborn’s stuck shoulders or catching a baby in the caul, to Socratic questioning around body autonomy, social justice and climate sustainability. The poems are layered and bi-cultural, rooted in contrasts between America and Sweden, as well as between colonial/industrial and ecological/relational ways of caring for each other and the earth. With a sense of humor, love, art and aging, Jordemoder is a collection of midwifed hope.
Maw


In the middle of the night, my mother

would bury her face

in her mute, farm-woman's hands

between the hinged high-fidelity

speakers of our Zenith

record player, the soaring trills

of Verdi's dying Violetta

vanquishing the dark.


At the end of the opera,

she’d raise her head, revived,

and I learned from the edge

of the living life

turns on passion, as much as breath.


In the middle of the afternoon, I learned

not to be afraid of Virginia Woolf

or Hedda Gabler. And now, when

my child goes looking for his mother,

I can it's in the genes,

or a law of nature, or some

all-consuming love—disappearing

into the maw of entropy and art.

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

Published April 19, 2022

Reviews

[miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ingrid Andersson’s poetry demands and welcomes all of your heart. If poetry reshapes language to express the indefinable, Andersson’s poetry expands our mother tongue to better articulate the authenticities of our lives. Her debut collection is one of “midwifed hope,” humbly exulting the messiness of the ordinary and asking us to live well together. No poet honors our humanity more. Though often reflective of her daughterhood, motherhood, and Swedish heritage, this is not an insulated, personal collection about the poet; it is an intimate collection about us. A global citizen with a midwife’s vantage point, Andersson intricately explores the relationships of living beings to each other and to systems, isms, nations, the environment, and life stages. She writes gracefully and fiercely, making no attempt to romanticize birth, death, or the swells of life in between; instead, Andersson offers an honest music we all want to tune into again and again. With sensorial imagery and gifted storytelling, she “sees into the life of things,” as Wordsworth suggests, and poignantly reminds us to look, too. From the warm, humorous, and loving voice of a midwife, Jordemoder is a poised collection urging us to see and hear the “wren’s tremble-chatter,” “strong-willed goldenrod,” “aging speckled hen,” and “old-world lilacs.”

[Blair H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis and picked it up because I love poetry and Scandinavian culture. Andersson is a talented, insightful writer who explores all along the spectrum of being a woman (mother-daughter relationship, delivering babies, meeting women while traveling, being a mom/wife, and more). I loved how carefully crafted each poem was. I just happened to read it in March, and I was glad I did because so many of the poems have to do with springtime, with images like melting snow, bees returning, flowers blooming, or collecting eggs. I also loved the emphasis on nature and living in tune with it. These are beautiful poems.

[Amanda Pickart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ingrid Andersson is the poet we all needed to speak truth to the raw relevant interconnectedness that we are in. Her contemporary commentary provides piercing clarity and accessibility to the multifaceted pressing issues of our day and pauses to revel in nature’s delight. Her words nourish each of our senses—sound, smell …proprioception. Honest stirrings for all of our “compost heart(s).” …And thanks to “Phalaenopsis” I’m left wanting all the vulva flowers. So much love for this incredible collection!

[b.andherbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

earthy collection of poetry focusing on nature, midwifery, life and death. i enjoyed the progression of sections, from birth to end and the callbacks to other poets and literary figures.

*read for 2023 Wisconsin Library Association Literary Awards

[Dana DesJardins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you just need clear poems by a generous heart.