Dear Mother

I’m aware it’s almost 2 months since you wrote back Tess / your beautiful fragments / snippets of life with a baby / of mothering / it’s been longer since I’ve written / I haven’t written since April actually / I’m learning that my brain works like this / that sometimes I need a break…

Today  Newly scuffed wrists/ the shock of discovery (mine, not hers) – she bleeds/ this is her skin but its layers peel/ there is someone else underneath. Slowly revealing themself. She does not cry. Just quietly clings as I wash her/ apply a plaster/ tell her she’s a brave girl – do I mean that brave…

Dear Tess, I have to start with a confession. It was when my second child Eli was about 8 months old, I had gone back to work when he was 4 weeks old but my husband was also working a 9-5 at this point. I was constantly hounded via email and my office was set…