Odes to a mother’s days Amy Oselkin publishes book of poems on loss, hope and joy

By Carl Zebrowski Editor

Amy Oselkin started writing poetry when she was a girl. She’s kept at it ever since, and now she has a published book of poems to show for it.

In time for National Poetry Month in April and Mother’s Day in May, she’s released “The Story Behind the Poem: A Reflection on Mommyhood, Miscarriages and Marriage.” The collection of grown-up verse explores the joys of being a mother, the pain of losing a baby and the realities of married life.

“I hope that even though this is my personal story, women will connect with it,” says the Los Angeles native who now lives with her husband, Martin, and three children outside Allentown. “You are not alone.”

The story laid out in the book starts with Oselkin meeting Martin in 2001 at Emory University in Atlanta, where the self-described

“Valley girl” double-majored in journalism and theater studies. After graduation they moved to Los Angeles. A medical residency soon took Martin to New York City. It was during that time, in 2006, when they were stuck on opposite sides of the country, that she wrote the earliest poem in the book.

Oselkin soon moved to NYC and took a job as senior lifestyle editor for “In Touch Weekly,” covering celebrity fashion, beauty and fitness — and weddings too, including the Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes extravaganza in Italy. For the last decade she has worked for Clarks Shoes, selling its footwear on QVC from the corporate TV studio in West Chester.

The most personal poems in the book are those about her two miscarriages. After her first, she wondered what comes next, and what about trying again? “What happens when a baby doesn’t come to light?”

She lived in Philadelphia at the time, before settling in the Lehigh Valley, where Martin works as a physician in diagnostic radiology and neuroradiology with St. Luke’s University Health Network. “I don’t even like going to that area anymore,” she said.

One of the main goals of the publishing project is that other women who have gone through similar experiences will discover a feeling of connection and hope in her poems. “Your experience is unique,” she said, “but there are other women, when you’re ready, who are able to share in your pain and help you heal.”

Another reason for the book was to create a record of the family for the kids when they’re grown up. Those are the happy poems. As she phrased it, “The joy of motherhood is also in the book.”

Some of her favorites are also her kids’ favorites. The subject matter is just what you might expect. “The ones they like best are the ones about them,” she said.

Of course, as every mother knows, not every part of the motherhood story is warm smiles and giggles.

“I did gag multiple times cleaning Dylan’s dirty diapers,” she said. “It’s really gross.

Then there’s Martin again. Publishing this book of poems with family photos and the stories behind the poems was his idea. He gets the book’s last poem to himself: “After all these years you still surprise me / It’s the little things that make me so happy / … I know loving me must be tough / So thank you, I realize I don’t say it enough.”

She also thanks the Lehigh Valley Jewish community and the “wonderful friends here” who have supported her publishing effort. “I’m grateful to my friends who are sharing so many stories with me already.”

“The Story Behind the Poem” is available now at Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Oselkin will appear for a book-signing at the Barnes and Noble store at the Lehigh Valley Mall from 1-3 p.m. on April 29.