Unfit Parent is out! Plus all the people I read poems to, unsolicited
links to interviews and more
Today, Unfit Parent turns 4 days old. If it were a newborn, it would be starting to fall into a regular eating and sleeping pattern, but might still have a cone-shaped head.
The very best part of the book release has been the people it has introduced me to, including those who have newly subscribed to this newsletter. Hi. I am so glad you’re here! If you want to introduce yourself in the comments, I would LOVE it.
I know the world is dark and scary right now, and talking about Unfit Parent in the middle of it feels a little ridiculous, but I also think talking about disability and care and interdependence matters, even now. Maybe that’s obnoxious to say, but I believe it.
My only planned reading at this point is a virtual launch next Tuesday at 8 pm ET. Please join me and Jessie Owen, a very funny and cool mom, whom I interviewed for the book. In-person events are difficult for me because of the recovery time they entail. Publicizing a book from bed isn’t easy, but I’m doing my best.
And, of course, it would mean so much to me if you were to buy the book. It’s available in hardcover, e-book, audio, and large print.
I will soon return to my regularly scheduled discussions on disability, control, perfection, motherhood, and poetry, but for now, I wanted to share some recent interviews, essays, and excerpted chapters.
The most powerful review has been from an esteemed local reporter. She says the book is “good.” The original review simply said “wheelchair.” When she’s right, she’s right.
Interviews:
PBS Newshour (Ali Rogin was a delight, and during the interview, a porch pirate stole a package, and I kind of kept it together.)
The Cut (everyone knows I love Sarah Wheeler)
Washington Post (Caitlin Gibson and I recited poetry to each other, so you know I had fun.)
Sara Petersen’s In Pursuit of Clean Countertops (where I got to look at MAHA and Tradwives through a disabled lens)
Jo-Ann Finkelstein’s The Feminist Parent
two kids who do not care that their mom is on TV
Book Excerpts (there is still plenty of book left to read! Don’t you worry).
Essays:
Cup of Jo (these comments will make you cry)
Podcasts:
Time to Lean (I also read poetry to them. Listen, you can’t control me.)
Disability After Dark (The icon, Andrew Gurza)
Thank you for being here and for caring. I’ll leave you with the poem I read on Time to Lean.
Wait by Galway Kinnell
Wait, for now.
Distrust everything if you have to.
But trust the hours. Haven’t they
carried you everywhere, up to now?
Personal events will become interesting again.
Hair will become interesting.
Pain will become interesting.
Buds that open out of season will become interesting.
Second-hand gloves will become lovely again;
their memories are what give them
the need for other hands. The desolation
of lovers is the same: that enormous emptiness
carved out of such tiny beings as we are
asks to be filled; the need
for the new love is faithfulness to the old.
Wait.
Don’t go too early.
You’re tired. But everyone’s tired.
But no one is tired enough.
Only wait a little and listen:
music of hair,
music of pain,
music of looms weaving our loves again.
Be there to hear it, it will be the only time,
most of all to hear your whole existence,
rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into total exhaustion.
the Khalia Times providing the cultural commentary we need - congrats! Ordered my copy! <3
Hello! I read your essay on CoJ and immediately bought the book. I’m a fellow parent with EDS (the symptoms of which have leveled up considerably in the last few years) and I am so grateful for your words.