A mother's lament

Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945): Brot! 1924, lithograph

Mothers’ lament

I

In the kitchen after dinner

I cut the watermelon 

open. Placing 

segments of sweet flesh 

into young eager hands

I am looking at the juice-streaked smiles 

of my children

who screech 

and laugh 

and leap with life

Thinking, as a mother, that to feed, 

to clothe, to shelter; how 

these simple acts

bring deep, fundamental joy 

II

The watermelon’s skin is mottled

green, flesh

red, rind 

bone-white, and seeds 

bitter, 

black.

I am thinking, as a mother, of hollow-eyed 

children, grasping, 

who shriek 

with hunger

and worse, 

      of children,  still.           

who make no sound

  

Writing these words over the last two days in my kitchen, with Mother's Day approaching. Thinking of the plight of mothers where the suffering and loss of children is happening in plain sight; witnessed via smartphones held in our hands. 

How is the fundamental right to feed, clothe and to keep ones children safe /alive denied? 

How is it that this is known and witnessed globally, yet continues, unabated? 

Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945): "Woman with a dead child", 1903, line etching, drypoint

The artwork above 'Woman with a dead child' is a print created in1903 by the much lauded artist Käthe Kollwitz. She herself lost a son to war, and throughout her lifetime witnessed many other children succumb to starvation and illness through famine, poverty, war and disease. Her oeuvre was dedicated to depicting the futility of conflict, the universality of loss, of grief, and in particular, the desperate plight of mothers striving to protect precious young lives.

Many years ago now I had the privilege of assisting in hanging an exhibition of Kollwitz's prints and drawings when working at the Bendigo Art Gallery. During the course of the exhibition I made countless visits to view the works in person and each time found myself deeply moved by the raw emotion they conveyed. 

In graphically depicting human suffering Kollwitz is without peer.

In another harrowing work 'Brot!' (Bread), Kollwitz again depicts the tactic of withholding food from civilians with a mother caught between two children, who are each desperate with hunger. 

The Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln has curated collections of Kollwitz's works online. I highly encourage looking further into her art and her life.

We know so much, we bear witness daily, yet today I am reminded that Kollwitz's works over a century on,  are as relevant now as ever. 

#ceasefire