In a 2018 interview, Robin Costa Lewis explained the purpose of this poem is to describe a moment of pleasure between two Black mothers who are poor. She explained she chose to write a poem on this moment because it is not a performance we see in literature.
What parts of your life are considered moments that are unseen in other people’s narratives? How would you describe them?
In my marriage, we have mixed statuses. I always feel like there’s this loud political discourse with so many assumptions and accusations. But there are so many unseen moments in our marriage I wish I could show: The tenderness, the normality, the mundane, the anxiety, the support and love.
I think moments that are typically hidden in many peoples’ stories is the suffering we all have endured, the grieving that is taking and has taken place, and the pain and traumas we’ve experienced and empathized through others.
In my marriage, we have mixed statuses. I always feel like there’s this loud political discourse with so many assumptions and accusations. But there are so many unseen moments in our marriage I wish I could show: The tenderness, the normality, the mundane, the anxiety, the support and love.
I think moments that are typically hidden in many peoples’ stories is the suffering we all have endured, the grieving that is taking and has taken place, and the pain and traumas we’ve experienced and empathized through others.