Kiss Me Goodnight: Stories And Poems By Women Who Were Girls When Their Mothers Died [Paperback]

Ann Murphy O'Fallon (Author, Editor), Margaret Noonan Vaillancourt (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005

Losing your mother when very young is a devastating experience. The authors featured in Kiss Me Goodnight recall the lost moments they shared with their mothers, exploring their feelings, longings, and how they have learned to cope with loss through their adult lives. Unlike other books on motherlessness, KMG reveals the experience through stories, poems, and essays giving an intimate and highly personal view of mother loss. These women are courageous. They write vivid and haunting descriptions of the cancer, suicide, alcoholism, accidents, Nazis, and other agents of death that killed their mothers. They also capture the sweet memories of their mothers -- the color and smell of their clothes, the taste of the food they prepared, the light on their faces, the texture of their hair, and the memory of their kisses. Kiss Me Goodnight includes a collection of 25 short stories and essays and 72 poems written by 52 authors. Their work was chosen by a panel of reviewers who read hundreds of submissions from all over the United States - submissions that came from one tiny ad in a national poetry magazine.The majority of these women, who range in age from 15 to 80-plus, are published poets and short story writers. The works are presented in alphabetical order by last name of author and are interspersed with photographic images of some of the authors with their mothers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Oh--what a book this is! So full of sadness and confusion and hope. It will make you cry and remember everything you thought you forgot. It will make you rush to hug your own children, hard, and to assure them you will never leave, even as you acknowledge what an impossible promise that is for mothers to keep. --Hope Edelman, author of Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers

A deeply moving book. At first one hears only pain. Then one hears the courage, the strength, and indomitable faith. --Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Kiss Me Goodnight is a living testimony to the power of a mother's love... It will heal people! --Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings

From the Publisher

Kiss Me Goodnight includes a collection of 25 short stories and essays and 72 poems written by 52 authors. Their work was chosen by a panel of reviewers who read hundreds of submissions from all over the United States - submissions that came from one tiny ad in a national poetry magazine.The majority of these women, who range in age from 15 to 80-plus, are published poets and short story writers. The works are presented in alphabetical order by last name of author and are interspersed with photographic images of some of the authors with their mothers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Syren Book Company (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929636333
• ISBN-13: 978-0929636337
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,603,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We Need More Beautiful Places to Grieve, September 26, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Kiss Me Goodnight: Stories And Poems By Women Who Were Girls When Their Mothers Died (Paperback)

I have vastly enjoyed this book of writings and poems by those who have
lost their mother. It moved me to tears and then to an urgent sense that
I must share this book. We need more beautiful places to grieve our
losses. Becoming whole is a life's work, and grieving fully and sharing
stories that break the spell is part of the process. "Kiss Me Goodnight"
gives one a haven to do so and serves this sacred process."
Marilyn Zimmerman, Associate Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History,
Wayne State University, photography/installation/performance artist
and curator

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful words, powerful book!, October 26, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss Me Goodnight: Stories And Poems By Women Who Were Girls When Their Mothers Died (Paperback)

Get out a new hanky or get the tissue box ready. You'll need it!

In Kiss Me Good Night the editors compiled stories from 47 women who recall their mother's death (if they remember) or how they feel now.

The women, through prose or poetry, tell about their mothers and how certain sounds, smells, tastes and things like seeing a purse (like their mother had) trigger strong emotions of loss and longing--and remembrance.

This unique sisterhood opened their hearts and souls to us, and make us appreciate our mom more--if she's alive, or relieved we were not a young child when she left this earth.

Many women are from an era when people did not talk about death or dying to children, and that left them confused. Many times when the mother died, young children were dispersed to relatives, raised apart, because the father could not work and cope with raising children alone.

Who do you talk to? How do you understand?

Missing their mothers as mom and role model and feeling the loss of her nurturing, these women found that talking to others, even all these years later, was therapeutic. And writing allowed them to help many others.

My most lasting word image is one woman looking through a photo album of a mom she vaguely remembers and seeing a "Kodachrome vitality." Maybe that's a reminder to us to keep family pictures updated to capture our own vitality.

Armchair Interviews says: Powerful, powerful words and the emotions they bring. Kiss Me Goodnight is for those women who have already lost their mother--and those who cannot even bear to think about that happening to them.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An anthology of stories, poems, and essays by various women, April 12, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss Me Goodnight: Stories And Poems By Women Who Were Girls When Their Mothers Died (Paperback)

Kiss Me Goodnight is an anthology of stories, poems, and essays by various women, all of who experienced the loss of their mothers at an early age - to accidents, suicide, cancer, or murder. The pages recount vivid and wistful memories, taking the bad and the good, sweetness and pain. Black-and-white photographs of the authors and their mothers illustrate this profoundly powerful and moving testimony, which embraces memory as the first step to healing. "Mother's Motto: It Was Just Meant to Be": Oh, Mother, do not say / it was meant to be. // Once more it is Easter / and you are not here. // My heart still shrinks / when I see the empty rocker // face the kitchen silence / hear only a faint echo // of your laughter as we chopped / hazelnuts and golden raisins // to knead into the risen dough / for the humped-back panetone. // The dogwood tree, heavy with blossoms / still wears the yellow and blue ribbons // tied around its trunk in remembrance / of that spring's shattered promise. // The steps where you fell, split / your bones, scarred my life, have memories // hard as the dried blood halo around / your head when I found you. // Oh Mother, do not say / it was just meant to be.