A mother is a paperclip

The shaping of a mother - from urgency of maternal drive to discovering what nestles buried within the small print lies here.

Deep-seated longing for a child, when endlessly thwarted carrying to term, gives way to the joy of new-borns. Bitingly acute fears, sometimes tiger-rage when children are hurt, are forensically examined - through to the bitter-sweetness of their flight. The raw, organic, ever-evolving transformations throughout motherhood, are reflected through both personal narrative and more universally.

Once motherhood takes hold - there is no letting go. All within the nest is held as safely as love can make it, within that gentle paperclip clasp.

"a mother is a paperclip is a timeless collection with poems so alive to language they animate and vitalise the 'fulsome dark' of motherhood in all its joys, fears, and furies."

- Kaddy Benyon, The Mirror and its Fragments



"Karen Francis 'nails it' for motherhood in a mother is a paperclip. In these poems the 'threads of life' are woven into a magical tapestry in which personal stories are depicted with a touching realism. Reference to Animal Myth and Legends widen the scope and bring to the fore a sense of mother as archetype'"

-Anne Bailey, What the house taught us



"This debut by Karen Francis reads like a love letter to motherhood - not schmalzy or sickly sweet - this is a warts and all examination of the ups and downs of being a parent (and a grandparent). Full of tenderness and innovative use of language - Karen takes us on a journey and keeps us right there with her through every small and major bump in the road - showing us that you never stop being a parent, however old your children are."

-Julia Webb, The Telling. Poetry Society Stanza winner 2011 and Battered Moon Winner 2018