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The Republic of Motherhood
*'The Republic of Motherhood' Winner of the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem*‘I crossed the border into the Republic of Motherhoodand found it a queendom, a wild queendom.’In this bold and resonant gathering of poems, Liz Berry turns her distinctive voice to the transformative experience of new motherhood. Her poems sing the body electric, from the joy and anguish of becoming a mother, through its darkest hours to its brightest days. With honesty and unabashed beauty, they bear witness to that most tender of times – when a new life arrives, and everything changes.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2018
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About the author
Liz Berry
4 books30 followersLiz Berry is an award-winning poet and author of the critically acclaimed collections Black Country (Chatto, 2014); The Republic of Motherhood (Chatto, 2018); The Dereliction (Hercules Editions, 2021) a collaboration with artist Tom Hicks; and most recently The Home Child (Chatto, 2023), a novel in verse. Liz’s work, described as “a sooty soaring hymn to her native West Midlands” (Guardian), celebrates the landscape, history and dialect of the region. Liz has received the Somerset Maugham Award, Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, The Writers' Prize and two Forward Prizes. Her poem ‘Homing’, a love poem for the language of the Black Country, is part of the GCSE English syllabus. Liz is a patron of Writing West Midlands and lives in Birmingham with her family.
Instagram: @misslizberry
Instagram: @misslizberry
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
February 7, 2021
Sublime. Some of the best descriptions of the frenzied, gorgeous, love-sick period that is early motherhood. (One star deduction for brevity only.)
An excerpt:
I crossed the border into the Republic of Motherhood
and found it a queendom, a wild queendom.
I handed over my clothes and took its uniform,
its dressing gown and undergarments, a cardigan
soft as a creature, smelling of birth and milk,
and I lay down in Motherhood's bed, the bed I had made
but could not sleep in, for I was called at once to work
in the factory of Motherhood. The owl shift,
the graveyard shift. Feedingcleaninglovingfeeding.
I walked home, heartsore, through pale streets,
the coins of Motherhood singing in my pockets.
Then I soaked my spindled bones
in the chill municipal baths of Motherhood,
watching strands of my hair float from my fingers.
Each day I pushed my pram through freeze and blossom
down the wide boulevards of Motherhood
where poplars bent their branches to stroke my brow.
I stood with my sisters in the queues of Motherhood -
the weighting clinic, the supermarket - waiting
for its bureaucracies to open their doors.
As required, I stood beneath the flag of Motherhood
and opened my mouth although I did not know the anthem.
When darkness fell I pushed my pram home again,
by lamp-light wrote urgent letters of complaint
to the Department of Motherhood but received no response.
[...]
An excerpt:
I crossed the border into the Republic of Motherhood
and found it a queendom, a wild queendom.
I handed over my clothes and took its uniform,
its dressing gown and undergarments, a cardigan
soft as a creature, smelling of birth and milk,
and I lay down in Motherhood's bed, the bed I had made
but could not sleep in, for I was called at once to work
in the factory of Motherhood. The owl shift,
the graveyard shift. Feedingcleaninglovingfeeding.
I walked home, heartsore, through pale streets,
the coins of Motherhood singing in my pockets.
Then I soaked my spindled bones
in the chill municipal baths of Motherhood,
watching strands of my hair float from my fingers.
Each day I pushed my pram through freeze and blossom
down the wide boulevards of Motherhood
where poplars bent their branches to stroke my brow.
I stood with my sisters in the queues of Motherhood -
the weighting clinic, the supermarket - waiting
for its bureaucracies to open their doors.
As required, I stood beneath the flag of Motherhood
and opened my mouth although I did not know the anthem.
When darkness fell I pushed my pram home again,
by lamp-light wrote urgent letters of complaint
to the Department of Motherhood but received no response.
[...]
August 27, 2018
A stunning collection in which the hugely talented Liz Berry explores the world of becoming a mother and every consequential physical and emotional response. The originality of the images, the associations and the language is what makes this beautiful work so captivating; without a shred of sentimentality. Rare indeed. I laughed and cried.
July 21, 2022
I finished this incredible poetry collection sometime between May and June; I can't remember the date exactly. I was so moved by Liz Berry's poems that I kept going back to them, reading them again and again, and digesting each poem as if it was my staple food.
Especially the titular poem is something every new mom should read. It depicts postpartum just as it is - an unknown forest where women are blindfolded and left to grapple with a new reality. The other poems that I loved are - Connemara, Transition, The Visitation, Sky Birth, The Yellow Curtains, So Tenderly It Wounds Them, Placenta, and Spiritualist Church.
Highly recommended for all motherhood-poetry lovers!
Especially the titular poem is something every new mom should read. It depicts postpartum just as it is - an unknown forest where women are blindfolded and left to grapple with a new reality. The other poems that I loved are - Connemara, Transition, The Visitation, Sky Birth, The Yellow Curtains, So Tenderly It Wounds Them, Placenta, and Spiritualist Church.
Highly recommended for all motherhood-poetry lovers!
September 18, 2020
Oficialmente el último libro que leí para la carrera, ay :(
September 6, 2020
"I tell you things I've never told
another creature, strange lullabies
like the purling of larks, winging up
into the withdrawing dark"
A very small, very beautiful emotive collection of poetry starting from the strange and beguiling point of motherhood in which the mother feels their whole life pour into the body of another and cradles it as love itself.
Liz Berry is simply astonishing. Her writing is lyrical but not to the point of pretentiousness - she is fearful, lustful, full of shame, full of a new and bowing light that archs the collection and seems to embed her own memories of childhood. I love how she entwined spirituality with the erotic ('the visitation' is both deeply sexual and disturbing), with the image of women being both free and held under the weight of their homes, expectations and constraints. This is honesty at its most beautiful.
another creature, strange lullabies
like the purling of larks, winging up
into the withdrawing dark"
A very small, very beautiful emotive collection of poetry starting from the strange and beguiling point of motherhood in which the mother feels their whole life pour into the body of another and cradles it as love itself.
Liz Berry is simply astonishing. Her writing is lyrical but not to the point of pretentiousness - she is fearful, lustful, full of shame, full of a new and bowing light that archs the collection and seems to embed her own memories of childhood. I love how she entwined spirituality with the erotic ('the visitation' is both deeply sexual and disturbing), with the image of women being both free and held under the weight of their homes, expectations and constraints. This is honesty at its most beautiful.
October 24, 2021
painfully and searingly beautiful evocations of new motherhood, the unexpectedness and injustices of its hardships, tender moments of all-encompassing love, the loneliness of postnatal depression...it's all here, sublime!
January 26, 2024
too small! I need more of Liz Berry’s delicious and painful poems. I wept while reading - she told her story. And mine.
February 2, 2024
Took me immediately back into the thick of it. Berry conjures the disorientating metamorphosis of motherhood in bold and visceral verse.
October 6, 2018
Stunning little chapbook that touches the heart of motherhood in all of it's manifestations.
July 28, 2018
It was as though Berry found my postpartum journals and stitched them together into luscious poems. Every one needs to read this: women preparing to give birth, women struggling with PPD, partners and family members of new mothers. This collection is the most honest treatment of the realities of birth/motherhood that I’ve ever read. I only wish I’d had access to Berry’s knowledge before my son was born. Gorgeous poetry and beautifully designed.
August 8, 2018
This is an absolutely stunning pamphlet from Liz Berry. Well worth the wait. At various points it made me cry. Berry has a mastery with language that I envy, and having heard her read I heard her voice as I read it. Such pain and joy so intertwined. Berry dares to talk about the things we feel we shouldn't and the result is a thing of absolute beauty.
November 23, 2020
This is a poetry pamphlet of birthing of a mother. Its a brutally honestly account of the hard moments, the unromantic side of learning to be a mother. I came across the beautiful title poem published on grants that I will Iink here for anyone interested in this.
https://granta.com/the-republic-of-mo...
https://granta.com/the-republic-of-mo...
August 21, 2018
Called a "gathering" of poems, this little pamphlet is astonishingly strong. Berry's first collection, Black Country, is also very short for a debut, but there are no misplaced words, no baggage at all. This is true here also: an incisive sequence that cuts the reader to the core. I have read many poems about childbirth and motherhood, but Berry's perspective feels revelatory. Her use of language is completely captivating: it has the raw energy and earthiness I associate with her work, but this "gathering " feels fresher than ever. She plays with line-breaks, internal rhyme, and her imagery is brutal, original and beautiful. An example from the poem Placenta
[...] When I cradled it
above its grave it was crawling with jewels
trilobites and brachiopods blinking eyes
which saw only briny hot darkness and flood
upon flashing flood of creation.
These poems force us to face the realities of our bodies, and show us the beauty and wildness of birth, and existence itself. Though they hinge around birth and motherhood, their perspective is broad -- they ask us are we animals, do we have a soul, and how does language work, can words help us in times of extremis. These are huge topics that Berry explores in few words. The poems are also tender and full of affection. I especially loved The Visitation which touches on the tenderness of birth and the broadness of life that can be experienced in moments of pain. The poet sleeps for a moment in a hospital bed and remembers being a teenager when Eliose "knelt before me"
until I bloomed, my mouth spilling flowers, feverish
through the fodes and gardens, donkey-bites and alleys,
the dolls-house terraces where girls dreamt.
I knew the time had come to yield like a meadow
so I did, love, and you moved through me like the May breeze
and I was blessed.
I am glad this "gathering" is a small one, because it will make the book all the easier to carry around. Everyone should read these poems -- we are lucky to have Liz Berry's voice.
[...] When I cradled it
above its grave it was crawling with jewels
trilobites and brachiopods blinking eyes
which saw only briny hot darkness and flood
upon flashing flood of creation.
These poems force us to face the realities of our bodies, and show us the beauty and wildness of birth, and existence itself. Though they hinge around birth and motherhood, their perspective is broad -- they ask us are we animals, do we have a soul, and how does language work, can words help us in times of extremis. These are huge topics that Berry explores in few words. The poems are also tender and full of affection. I especially loved The Visitation which touches on the tenderness of birth and the broadness of life that can be experienced in moments of pain. The poet sleeps for a moment in a hospital bed and remembers being a teenager when Eliose "knelt before me"
until I bloomed, my mouth spilling flowers, feverish
through the fodes and gardens, donkey-bites and alleys,
the dolls-house terraces where girls dreamt.
I knew the time had come to yield like a meadow
so I did, love, and you moved through me like the May breeze
and I was blessed.
I am glad this "gathering" is a small one, because it will make the book all the easier to carry around. Everyone should read these poems -- we are lucky to have Liz Berry's voice.
May 12, 2019
I first encountered Liz Berry’s work via the You’re Booked podcast (the episode with Sinead Gleeson). Lines from the eponymous poem kept rolling round and round in my head: the notions of the queues of motherhood; the late night letters of complaint to the Department of Motherhood; all so evocative of my own memories of life with a baby. I knew I needed to be able to read it for myself and wanted to read the rest of the collection.
I was not disappointed. She captures the anxiety and uncertainty of waiting for a baby to arrive, the complex mix of wonder and brutality that is giving birth and the jumbled and often contradictory emotions swirling inside new mothers. She lays bare on the page both the outward hamster wheel of mundane domestic activity and the inner existential crisis that lies beneath it. Press this book into the hands of any mother you know - they will feel so wonderfully heard and, most importantly, will know they are not alone.
I was not disappointed. She captures the anxiety and uncertainty of waiting for a baby to arrive, the complex mix of wonder and brutality that is giving birth and the jumbled and often contradictory emotions swirling inside new mothers. She lays bare on the page both the outward hamster wheel of mundane domestic activity and the inner existential crisis that lies beneath it. Press this book into the hands of any mother you know - they will feel so wonderfully heard and, most importantly, will know they are not alone.
January 29, 2025
Liz Berry's poetry pamphlet 'The Republic of Motherhood' is a moving and deeply human look at the emotional excess of motherhood, the complexity of the intense love for a child that can nurture both parent and child as well as debilitating both. In my favourite poem, 'Bobowler, Berry writes "And the message she carries / in her slow soft flight? / Too tender to speak of, too heartsore, / but this: I am waiting. / The love that lit the darkness between us / has not been lost.", and it's difficult to think of a more beautiful verse on parenthood or really any kind of love/relationship, devotion of the purest kind. And in the final poem, 'The Steps': "Who will we be when we come back? / Will we remember ourselves? / Will we still touch each other's faces / in the darkness, the white noise of the night / spilling over us, and believe there is nothing / we could not know or love?" A future uncertain, defined solely by the hopeful certainty of enduring love.
June 19, 2021
I wish I'd had this chapbook of poems when I was a brand-new mother. Berry explores both the fierce, physical love of motherhood and the seesawing fear and doubt. These are wise, bloody, twisting, aching poems about what it means to love with your soul.
"I am alone a good deal just now
and I cry at nothing and cry most of the time,
in the cock-crow, through the chiming hours,
the velvet meadows of my dream life.
There are things in these curtains
that nobody know but me or ever will..."
"Sweet ghosts who've been awake
with their babies through the dark
kneeling to the filth and holy rags of the body
so tenderly it wounds them.
Who rise from grey light to walk the wet streets -
their tiny saints adrift in sleep's brackish waters - ..."
"I am alone a good deal just now
and I cry at nothing and cry most of the time,
in the cock-crow, through the chiming hours,
the velvet meadows of my dream life.
There are things in these curtains
that nobody know but me or ever will..."
"Sweet ghosts who've been awake
with their babies through the dark
kneeling to the filth and holy rags of the body
so tenderly it wounds them.
Who rise from grey light to walk the wet streets -
their tiny saints adrift in sleep's brackish waters - ..."
November 3, 2018
I love Liz Berry - she's the only poet I've met in person and this is the second of her collections I've read (and very beautifully put-together it is too). Her images and writing style always chime with me, and this is another collection that I will have to reread soon. I also think, if you're fond of Robert Macfarlane's writing on the erosion of nature vocabulary from English, you'll be fond of this poetry collection which has a a (short) glossary of terms.
((This collections is attributed to the wrong Liz Berry account (well actually it's attributed to both of them, but the one displayed on this book's page is wrong) - get on that Goodreads librarians!))
((This collections is attributed to the wrong Liz Berry account (well actually it's attributed to both of them, but the one displayed on this book's page is wrong) - get on that Goodreads librarians!))
February 15, 2019
It's been years since I've read a book of poems, so I figured picking one up that's only 26 pages would be an easy reintroduction. This lovely little book that would fit inside a new mother's pocket was a wonderful uplift each day. I found myself reading - and re-reading - each word so I could let the entire poem sink in. Reading poetry, in my opinion, is meant to be slow. You've got to let them ruminate (sometimes I didn't fully grasp the intention of the poem until the next day)! Berry's descriptions and depictions of impending motherhood or motherhood-anew was refreshing and deep at the same time. I'll look back fondly on this small gem and plan to keep it on my shelf for a while.
September 3, 2018
THE REPUBLIC OF MOTHERHOOD is described by Liz Berry as a gathering of poetry, and this small collection is definitely powerful. The poet takes these pages to reflect on her experiences of both pregnancy and new motherhood, as well as how becoming a mother changes a woman. These poems were smart and fragile, full of depth and emotional resonance. While currently only available in the UK, I would recommend this small pamphlet of poetry to any woman regardless of their status as a mother or not.
October 20, 2021
Such a short collection, there is scarcely room to put a foot wrong, and she doesn't. A feast of dialect words. I was lucky enough to be at a recent reading in Stroud, where I bought the book, and hear the deep rhythms she puts into the poems as she reads and the Black Country burr, a flattening that seems to spread the jam of it, all flavour and texture. The little book is beautifully presented as well, just the right size to slip in a bag or coat.
March 31, 2019
I really like Liz Berry's writing, but I think the subject matter of this particular collection alienated me. I could empathise with the emotions a mother might go through, but I was always going to be somewhat detached because I've not had a baby. It doesn't stop me appreciating how good this collection is; I just didn't bond with it.
January 13, 2019
I read this about five times last night, liking it more and more each time. So clever, it took a few reads for me to understand the settings of each poem and the meaning behind it. Some I liked more than others but I could see how cleverly the language was used to make you feel the situation even more. I'm sure if I were better at poetry analysis then I would have given it more.
March 28, 2024
What a gem of a book. So much image packed into it's small pages. And I loved it's form, how reading it felt like a little passport you could leaf through and read the owner's journey into this vivid 'Republic of Motherhood'. A place I may never gain entry to, but I can look at the mementos: the oak leaves, the owl feathers, the moth dust shrines, the wet grass, the penny moons.
October 7, 2018
Poetry about pregnancy. Pregnoetry.
October 18, 2018
Absolutely stunning collection. So much so I bought a copy for a friend. I can not recommend this enough. Hints of Sharon Olds and even Plath.
February 22, 2019
Brilliant. Only wish it were longer!
June 16, 2020
Another beautiful collection.
September 4, 2020
This is a very raw and real look into the beautiful and overwhelming journey into motherhood. Absolutely amazing piece of work. Highly recommend!
November 9, 2021
Gorgeous.
April 28, 2023
Beautiful, dark and true. Liz Berry's poems cut to the quick. I just wish there were more
in this short collection.
in this short collection.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews