Some Murmur - Lydia Unsworth

Experience the raw and profound journey of motherhood through this captivating collection of poetry. Some Murmur delves into the complex tapestry of maternal emotions, asserting that motherhood is a beautiful fragmentation of experiences. These candid and poignant poems offer a deep dive into the myriad facets of motherhood, while also providing a panoramic view of the evolving landscape of thoughts and emotions. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the intricate dance of motherhood.

Lydia Unsworth's latest collection is an extraordinary embodied exploration of the poetics of motherhood. Contending that 'motherhood is fragmentation', these frank and vulnerable poems both immerse themselves in the processes of experience whilst at times standing back to take intricate tracking shots of unfolding thought lines. Chief amongst their concerns are the identity perils of 'previous selves' or 'selves unled' alongside the 'many iterations of this self I have yet to assemble'. In a 'world that assumes everything you have is what you always wanted' this 'meta-motherhood' attempts to 'walk as if I still have meaning', asks 'what body / am I to love?' and appeals to the child to 'hold me / up, help me / face life.' Breath-taking and heart-breaking by turns, this is a major contribution to women's writing on pregnancy and child-rearing. - Scott Thurston

Lydia Unsworth's meditation on the 'iterations of self' resulting from her pregnancy, relocation to a new country and evolution into the role of mother-and-writer amid the backdrop of Brexit and a global pandemic, is a bold and affecting study of the fragmentation, dislocation and recalibration which occurs when that self is 'sawn in half', at once irrevocably altered yet in essence the same. Remarkable. - A J Moore

Unsworth's latest work is a full-bodied mothership of a collection. Exploring both embodiment and the often disembodied state of motherhood, these poems are a vital and visceral dispatch from the frontline of parenting in a post-Brexit, pandemic-ridden world. ... Unsworth has gifted the reader with a series of corporeal and hyperreal milk dreams. - J P Seabright