This month Cassie Premo Steele chose two poems by readers on the themes of mothers and suicide. And yet not. There’s something deeper at play in these poems. As if something is being shaken loose. Read the poems and then listen in on the conversation between the poets. See if something is opened and released in you.

For Lent this year I’m giving up sleep. This was not a deliberate choice. It was thrust upon me last month—upon all of us—by the sudden death of Sally, our daughter Dara’s diabetes-alert service dog. For the past two years Sally has accompanied Dara everywhere, able to sense a rapidly rising or falling blood glucose level through the genius of her doggie nose. She was trained to alert Dara to these potentially life-threatening changes with a lick to her hand, prompting her to do a finger-prick blood test and correct any irregularities before they result in a medical crisis.

We may not have something for everybody this month, but I think we come fairly close!

My body, once buzzing with hormones that announced an undeniable presence, now echoes like an empty mausoleum.

“Let’s love, baby. . .” Marvin sings – one of Josh’s favorites. He’s home already? She had planned to help him pick up his tux after he got home from school. Was he getting ready for his prom without her?

next to the shiny
cans priced with promise
for smart growth,
superpowered limbs…

Sarah Gilbert is editor-in-chief of Stealing Time, a new literary magazine for parents. Gilbert holds an MBA as well as undergraduate degrees in late British literature and journalism. In 2004, she cofounded urbanMamas in Portland, Oregon. Gilbert is mother to three boys, a writer, a photographer, and a military wife, and is passionate about sustainable living.

A brief look at new books from one of Literary Mama’s favorite publishers, Seal Press.