Mom in Space - by Lisa Ampleman (Paperback)

About the Book

"Mom in Space, the third collection of poems by Lisa Ampleman, offers a complicated love letter to both the intergalactic and the terrestrial, with a wide-ranging exploration of subjects such as in/ fertility, miscarriage, parenting, chronic illness, climate change, pollution, nuclear waste, and civil rights, often through the lens of spaceflight. With two pieces of lyric nonfiction anchoring the poetry, Mom in Space embraces hybridity, featuring forms such as the sonnet and ghazal as well as prose poems and verse essays. Its speakers have a clear-eyed, unsentimental view of family life and the ways in which we lay ourselves bare to each other in relationships and in society. As NASA and commercial space companies gear up for Artemis missions to the moon, when the "first woman and next man" will step onto the lunar surface, Mom in Space offers new conceptions of women in space, incorporating both fictional and real female astronauts, among them the first mom in space (Anna Fischer) and the first Black woman in space (Mae Jemison). With a sense of both awe and informed inquiry, Mom in Space considers what spaceflight means not just for those who get rocketed into space but for those who stay home"--

Book Synopsis

Mom in Space is a complicated love letter to both the intergalactic and the terrestrial. Using the lens of spaceflight, Lisa Ampleman explores subjects ranging from the personal to the political, from fertility tests and parenting to climate change and civil rights.

As NASA and commercial space companies gear up for Artemis missions to the moon, Mom in Space offers new conceptions of women in space, incorporating both fictional and real female astronauts, among them the first mom in space (Anna Fisher) and the first Black woman in space (Mae Jemison). With a sense of both awe and informed inquiry, Mom in Space considers what spaceflight means not just for those who get rocketed into space but for those who stay home.

Review Quotes

"Mom in Space intertwines lyricism and sonic play alongside a deep investigation of the history of space flight and the men and women who've left the earth and come back changed. It's a riveting consideration of the threats to life on our planet and the thrills and consequences of our desire to explore the worlds beyond."--Nancy Reddy

"In these moving and incisive poems and essays, body and planet are intertwined, mother and astronaut orbit one another, and the everyday and the miraculous are one and the same. Like a skilled pilot, Lisa Ampleman expertly navigates through fertility clinics and lunar lava tubes, through Minecraft and spacecraft, through history and memory and earthrise."--Catherine Pierce

About the Author

Lisa Ampleman is the author of the poetry collections Full Cry and Romances. She is the managing editor of the Cincinnati Review and the poetry series editor at Acre Books.