A Mother’s Resistance Poetry: A Review of Catastrophic Molting in Literary Mama
We’re living in trying, maddening, exhausting times. I often find myself at a loss as to what to do with all the anger and fear. Dr. Amy Shimshon-Santo channeled hers into poetry, and the resulting book, Catastrophic Molting, is a brilliant, impassioned, and urgent collection.
Shimshon-Santo introduces the book with a poem titled “declaration,” her acknowledgment of purpose. The poem begins: “whereas the galaxy deserves better / whereas I am a mother who is the descendent of circumstances beyond our control.” It ends with Shimshon-Santo declaring herself ready to meet “ugliness with a warrior’s mindset” and to lean on the strength she has gained from wisdom.