Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Poets
    • Poems
    • Makar – National Poet
      • Our Waking Breath: A Poem-letter from Scotland to Ukraine
      • A Woman’s A Woman
      • The story of the Makar – National Poet of Scotland
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Spiorad an Àite
      Spirit of Place
    • The Trysting Thorns
    • Poetry Ambassadors
      Tosgairean na Bàrdachd
      • Poetry Commissions: Walter Scott 250
        Coimiseanan Bàrdachd: Walter Scott 250
      • Poetry Ambassadors 2021
    • Poetry Ambassadors 2020
    • Posters
    • Podcasts
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • Designing sensory poetry activities
    • Children’s poems in Scots
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Meeting rooms and venue hire
    • Exhibitions
  • Shop
    • Poetry Highlights
    • Entropie Books
    • Stichill Marigold Press
    • Poems for Doctors, Nurses & Teachers
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Jobs
    • Company Papers & Policies
    • Our projects
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • mothers
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

mothers

So Much for Mañana - by Judith Ortiz Cofer

{ Poem }

After twenty years in the mainland
/ Mother’s gone back to the Island
/ to let her skin
/ melt from her bones
/ under her native sun.
/ She…

Thank You for Being a Woman - by Jémima Fiadjoe-Prince Agbodjan

{ Poem }

Thank you for being a woman
/ For having been born
/ To know the pain of childbirth;
/ For having nursed my mother’s breast
/ To know…

My Son - by Fatoumata Sidibé

{ Poem }

The moon keeps watch
/ and the child sleeps.
/ His head emerges from the covers
/ like a flower smiling at life.
/ His breath is like…

Thor Heyerdahls mor - by Jan Erik Vold

{ Poem }

Thor Heyerdahl, en traust
/ og stillferdig
/ nordmann, som tenkte
/ sitt og ville
/
/ finne
/ ut om det
/ stemte – så han bygde seg en flåte
/ av balsa
/
/ på de…

Il Sogno Della Madre - by Stefano Dal Bianco

{ Poem }

Se state guardando una madre che dorme in poltrona
/ in un qualsiasi dopopranzo invernale
/ con il televisore temporaneamente spento
/ e con in casa…

from Poem to her Daughter - by Mwana Kupona binti Msham

{ Poem }

Daughter, take this amulet
/ tie it with cord and caring
/ I’ll make you a chain of coral and pearl
/ to glow on your…

Esej - by Semezdin Mehmedinović

{ Poem }

Zaslužuje pjesmu ova večernja šetnja.
/ Svjetlucanje aviona nad predgrađem
/ Dok u plavičastu tamu tone.
/ Varničenje žica nad trolejbusom.
/ Jedna je žena izgubila naušnicu
/ Sad se…

’Our cries, she used to say…’ - by Vénus Khoury-Ghata

{ Poem }

Our cries, she used to say
/ would scratch the moon’s windowpanes
/ and scrape the corners of tombstones which milked the moon
/
/ My mother…

Dog’s Tail - by Amjad Nasser

{ Poem }

My mother died in 2000 after she learned that all
/ the clocks and calendars had changed, and
/ possibly after she heard about…

Mother - by Attila József

{ Poem }

All this last week I have been thinking
of my mother, thinking of her taking
up in her arms the creaking basket
of clothes, without pausing, up to the attic.

As the child looks on - by Saradha Soobrayen

{ Poem }

his mother pulls the linen
/ from the cord.
/ She flaps each sheet,
/ folds each vest.
/ Collars are starched,
/ skirts are dressed.
/ She is spit, she is…

Like a Beacon - by Grace Nichols

{ Poem }

In London
/ every now and then
/ I get this craving
/ for my mother’s food
/ I leave art galleries
/ in search of plantains
/ saltfish/sweet potatoes
/
/ I need this…

Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2022.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
Scottish Poetry Library