plea

a poem by Suzanne Swanson
for Postpartum Support International blog
July 8, 2016

plea

something               wrong

that

baby

did not         glide

into love

did     not

bring    love

either

other hands            she thinks

can

soothe

not     her own

her hands     do not

yet

belong

to mother

o god

let her worries

be    only

for what is    real

take from her

her    desire    to be

as much        everything

as you are

you find her

enough         let her

find    her way

to you           to rest

Suzanne Swanson, March 5, 2016

Suzanne Swanson, PhD, LP had 40 years’ experience as a psychotherapist, much of it working with mothers and their partners. She now offers consultation, workshops, and presentations on perinatal mental health. She has been a Minnesota coordinator for PSI and was Founding Director of Pregnancy and Postpartum Support of Minnesota (PPSM). Suzanne serves on the board for Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth (PATTCh), and teaches Another Birth/Another Story classes for couples pregnant again after a traumatic birth.

Suzanne is the author of House of Music and What Other Worlds: Postpartum Poems. She is the mother of three grown children, and grandmother to two. She is happiest near big water and loves to row on the Mississippi River.