How Henry Sees Motherhood, by Leslie M. Rupracht

Reclining Mother and Child, by Henry Moore (Britain) 1975

How Henry Sees Motherhood

A sun-bronzed young mother stretches 
casually across the blanket she spread over 
the park’s newly mowed grass. Balancing on 

one elbow, she poses a tiny boy upon the pedestal 
of her still-round belly. They gaze adoringly at 
each other in an easy, familiar union. 

She is neither immodest nor grotesque in 
her nudity, her legs spread wide, solid and 
steady. Without reserve, she delights in her son, 

the center of her world, oblivious to passersby 
and their mumbled body-shaming remarks. 
This maternal queen owns the figure made 

more beautiful by motherhood, its fleshy 
hills and valleys made more vulnerable by 
loving completely her fragile creation.

Leslie M. Rupracht

Leslie M. Rupracht is an editor, poet, writer, and artist calling the Charlotte, North Carolina region home since 1997. Her words and art appear in various print and online journals (recently, Gargoyle and As It Ought To Be), anthologies, exhibits, and a chapbook, Splintered Memories (Main Street Rag, 2012). Longtime senior associate editor of now-retired Iodine Poetry Journal, Leslie also edited photography and prose for moonShine review, and was editor/designer of NC Poetry Society’s 2017 and 2018 Pinesong anthology. One of her poems is nominated for the 2020 Best of the Net. Leslie earned her English degree at State University of New York at Geneseo. She co-founded and hosts Waterbean Poetry Night at the Mic in Huntersville, NC.