the tree of life


the tree of life
Originally uploaded by madstfri
I've been thinking a lot about one of my obsessions: parenthood from an artist's perspective. People have been buzzing about Who Does She Think She Is, a documentary about women artists and our competing demands of muse and family. Michael Chabon's 2009 interview on Fresh Air ran again. In it he talks about his book of essays, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son. And I've been planning a creative project with two fabulous poets who are also mothers. When we get together we often discuss the way that our home lives influence our writing and our writing pedagogy since we also teach.

But this essay by writer Holly Kretschmar about eating her afterbirth (her baby's placenta, the "tree of life") was so unexpected, so weirdly fascinating that I had to share it. Only a writer could analyze what it means to eat yourself.

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