Motherish Work: A Generative Writing Space for Mothers/Caretakers with Charity Yoro

Sunday April 13th, 2025 10:30AM—1PM Pacific over Zoom
(A recording will be made available to all registrants for a limited period afterwards.)

“Love is acts of attention.” — Angela Garbes

“No one asked, How does one submit to falling forever, to going to pieces. A question from the inside.” — Maggie Nelson

“The only way to survive is by taking care of one another.” — Grace Lee Boggs

As writers who are also mothers/caretakers, we often carry a considerable amount of grief—for our pre-parent bodies and identities, for the unrealized expectations of motherhood. So much of being a parent is about accepting and enduring a perpetual state of loss. What would it look like to sit with and in the absences? And write, with less attachment and more inquiry, deeper into that space of unbecoming (and becoming, anew)? In regards to this important life work of childrearing, who, ultimately, do we answer to?

Part grief ritual, part act of reclamation, part joyful gathering—in this space, we will explore the complexities, constraints, and collective triumphs as writer parents operating within a patriarchal system, addressing themes as they emerge, such as invisible labor and the equitable redistribution of it, the erotic, interdependent systems, and mothering as movement.

This will be both a connective and generative space, where we will draw from the work of Angela Garbes, Krys Malcolm Bec, Adrienne Rich, Maggie Nelson, Chloé Cooper Jones, Camille T. Dungy, and others to co-create an intimate, restorative space where we may attend to our whole selves, including the expressive parts often neglected amid survival-based caretaking responsibilities.

All levels of writers identifying as “mothers” are welcome at this virtual gathering.

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Pricing:

The following payment model is inspired by and borrowed from the payment model of Bayo Akomolafe’s class, We Will Dance With Mountains: Into the Cracks.

This workshop offers a sliding scale based on your relative financial standing. In an effort to reflect disparity in economic condition and access to wealth, the following payment system is designed for those with more wealth to help cover the costs of those with less access to wealth and resources. We trust your discernment of your current financial situation and how you fit into the global economic context.

As you decide what amount to pay, please consider your present-day financial situation governed by income, but also the following factors: historical discrimination faced by your peoples; your financial wealth (retirement/savings/investments); your access to income and financial wealth, both current and anticipated (how easily could you earn more income compared to other people in your community, country, and the world; are you expecting an inheritance); people counting on your financial livelihood including dependents and community members; the socio-economic conditions of your locale (relative to other places in your country and in the world); your relationship to food & resource scarcity.

$111 Partner

$88 Supporter (Note: This amount reflects the “real” value of this course.)

$55 Companion

$33 Friend

Scholarships are also still available for anyone needing further financial assistance. Please email Daniel at registration@corporealwriting.com for more info, or if you are feeling challenged in any way by the financial requirements of participation.

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Charity E. Yoro (she/her) is a steward of words and other beings. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Rumpus, poets.org, Tupelo Quarterly, and elsewhere, and has been supported by Tin House, Kundiman, Regional Arts & Culture Council, and Sustainable Arts Foundation. Born, raised, and educated on the east side of O‘ahu, she currently lives west of the Willamette with her wild, loving family.