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All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy by Bridget Bell (2025, Trade Paperback)

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Format: Paperback or Softback. Publisher: CavanKerry Press.

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherCavankerry Press, The Limited

ISBN-101960327089

ISBN-139781960327086

eBay Product ID (ePID)17071629757

Product Key Features

Book TitleAll That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy

Number of Pages88 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicWomen Authors, Parenting / Motherhood, Nursing / Maternity, Perinatal, Women's Health

Publication Year2025

GenreFamily & Relationships, Poetry, Medical

AuthorBridget Bell

Book SeriesLaurelbooks Ser.

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.1 in

Item Weight6.1 Oz

Item Length0.9 in

Item Width0.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

Reviews"I read Bridget Bell's All that We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy with my whole mouth open, stunned by the harrowing precision and striking lyrical prowess with which she throws us into the hellish reality of perinatal mood disorders. Fearless and frank, these poems belong to everyone navigating the splintering terror of new parenthood. Bridget Bell is the best friend you need, the voice you can trust to give you the whole truth: "I whisper, You have changed everything, / and I hate you for it. Then shame / and its thorny arms." I wish I'd had this book when my child was born. Everything would've been more bearable.", "In All that We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy , Bridget Bell dismantles myths surrounding motherhood, offering a poignant and unflinchingly honest portrayal of the struggles faced by women around the world. Through a striking use of various poetic forms, from the sonnet to the found poem, she sheds light on the physical and emotional challenges of childbirth, postpartum depression, and the complex realities of motherhood. She writes: "We are not mothers. We wear the mother mask." The words resonate deeply, urging readers to question prevailing narratives. She writes: "There was no pain. The pain was everything." I was shaken by both the beauty and the brutal honesty of these poems. In the end, Bell explains that to speak against the lie is the way to survive. "You are not alone," she writes, "Everywhere there is a woman awake with you." All that We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy is a powerful testament to the resilience of women and a vital addition to contemporary poetry collections.", "My god, the relief, to know reality / is reality," writes Bridget Bell about her passage through postpartum depression to a new identity as a mother. What is often dismissed as "baby blues" here is explored in harrowing, thorough lyrics. Bell sings a song about motherhood, that extraordinary event of body and mind, and about her traumatic survival from PPD, an experience more common than acknowledged and seldom written about so vividly. Full of difficult and beautiful poems, this book is a must read because "[e]verywhere, there is a woman awake with you."

Table Of ContentIntroduction by Riah Patterson, MD I. Directive for Women Who Are Not Yet Mothers but Will Become Mothers This Is How You Lose Your Body Origin Stories My doctor recounts to me an anecdote Paranoia's Genesis Pressure Raising Mothers Checkup Sestina in Which the World Fails to Tell You About the Tedium Plea Dangerous for Mothers II. Root Cause Analysis of Perinatal Mood Disorders Postpartum Depression This is for the mother (Perinatal Mood Disorders Inpatient Unit) Sleep Deprivation Portraits of Postpartum Anxiety This is for the mother (intrusive thoughts) Rumination Escape This is for the mother (postpartum psychosis) III. A Survivor of Postpartum Depression Explains Why She Wants Another Baby Co-opting Anne Carson's "The Glass Essay" to Process My Miscarriage IV. Pregnancy Anaphora Lemons and Grapefruits Recurrence of Depression with Third Pregnancy The Peas On Not Waiting It Out to See If I Feel Better Collective Apology to My Daughter While Rocking My Infant Son On Beginning to Heal Elegy with Resistance I worry about women Dear New Mother-- Don't Tell Her Congratulations The Language of Becoming Well Notes Acknowledgments

SynopsisPoems that offer an honest portrayal of the complex realities of motherhood, including the devastating effects of postpartum depression. Maternal mental illness is an ongoing health crisis and deserves awareness, not only in the medical world but in the poetry world, too. Bridget Bell's All that We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy offers support to current mothers, mothers-to-be, family members of people suffering from perinatal mental illnesses, OB-GYNs, nurses, and any other healthcare providers. Bell uses various poetic forms to shed light on the challenges that come with motherhood, including the physical and emotional challenges of childbirth while celebrating the beauty of women's strength and resilience. Written with deep care and fearlessness, Bell's debut collection is both an educational tool and a powerful component of recovery in that shares others' similar stories.