ABOUT THIS BOOK

Poems 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.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Bridget Bell teaches composition and literature at Durham Technical Community College in Durham, North Carolina. All that We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy is her debut poetry collection.

REVIEWS

"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."

— Blas Falconer, author of 'Rara Avis'

"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."

— Eugenia Leigh, author of 'Bianca'

"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."

— Connie Voisine, author of 'The Bower'

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 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