In Knots

An all-new collection from the award-winning poet and critically acclaimed author, Catherine J. Mahony, with accompanying ekphrasis by celebrated photographer Andy Sch n and renowned artist Laura Gelsomini. "I have been in knots since the day I was born. I was separated from my birth mother and became an individual by the tying of a fleshy knot. My stomach was in knots as I watched my adopted mother die from a massive stroke. I then tied knots in nooses that encircled my trachea. I tied knots in tourniquets as I waited for heroin to saturate my bloodstream and bring me false euphoria. They tied knots in restraints to fasten me to mental institution gurneys. When I became pregnant with my daughter, my conscience was in knots as I made the ultimate decision to get sober and raise her as a single parent who suffers from borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder. These binding and enslaving knots from my past began to unravel and I had to learn how to become a mother without ever really having any true knowledge about what that meant. Some days I still dangle, helpless, from a frayed rope. But other days, the bond that connects me to my motherhood (lost and found) keeps me hanging on with the hope that I can be the mother my daughter deserves. - Catherine J. Mahony"