Lisa Ampleman's Mom in Space
Mom in Space: A Review and Interview with Lisa Ampleman by Ashley Rutland
The cover of Lisa Ampleman’s latest poetry collection from LSU Press, Mom in Space, features a woman in a space suit hovering in a worn domestic space and indeed this book offers readers an immersive spacefaring experience. As I journeyed through the collection, I realized that I was enriching my understanding of the vast and wondrous intergalactic universe. At the same time, the book’s catalog of the voyage of motherhood and womanhood evoked deep feelings of sympathy and sorrow in me.
Ampleman is a prolific author who has three full-length poetry collections to her name, including Romances (LSU Press, 2020) and Full Cry (NFSPS Press, 2013). Her poems have been featured on Poetry Daily and Verse Daily, and her works have been published in numerous literary journals such as 32 Poems, Cave Wall, Image, Kenyon Review Online, Massachusetts Review, Natural Bridge, New Ohio Review, New South, Notre Dame Review, Southern Review, The Rumpus, and Issue 19 of Miracle Monocle. Currently, Ampleman serves as the managing editor of The Cincinnati Review and the poetry series editor at Ace Books.
Mom in Space presents thought-provoking fiascoes that are intertwined with a sensational intelligence that will leave readers viewing the world (and beyond) as a more precious place than before. Have you ever encountered such an experience? Consider this passage from the title poem, “Mom In Space”:
Her body translated to the heavens,
the equigravisphere, hanging
between her two worlds, the child
who was forged and welded
into being, and the other just stardust
and antineutrinos—
Mom in Space is a treasure trove of historical references; the book recognizes well-known astronauts such as Neil Armstrong, who was the first person to walk on the moon, Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to venture into space, and Anna Fisher, the first mother to fly in space. Additionally, Ampleman shares her challenges and invites readers to reflect on their own lives. She candidly describes her struggles with pregnancy loss, bearing a child, and never being able to bear again. She even allows readers to peek into her daily health struggles as she tries to balance her role as a mother and her passion for spaceflight.
What I admire most about Mom in Space is the knowledge and intelligence that Ampleman shares with readers. Her ability to compare relatable earthly troubles with the mysteries of the universe has broadened my perspective and sparked my curiosity. Although I was initially challenged by the complex vocabulary, I found myself becoming more and more engaged with each poem, exploring its meaning, and allowing the book to reawaken my mind to the wonders of our universe. The collection is truly fascinating and has left a lasting impression on me. If you're looking for a challenging, eye-opening, and beautifully written book that will leave you in awe, I highly recommend Mom in Space.
I had an opportunity to correspond recently with Ampleman about the book. The following is a transcription of our conversation, edited lightly for clarity:
What inspired you to write this book; were there any personal experiences or events that influenced your writing? How long did it take for you to write this book?
LA: While some of these poems were written in the early 2010s, before and after I had my son, most stem from February 2020 through early 2022. In late 2019, I became curious about the space program after visiting an anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 capsule held at the Cincinnati Museum Center. There were some handwritten remarks by Neil Armstrong in a speech of his in the exhibit that just stuck with me. I also saw a book in the gift shop on our way out (A Man on the Moon, by Andrew Chaikin) that looked good, and I brought it with me to a residency in Florida.
The book is a narrative of the Apollo program, and I was surprised about how much I didn’t know, even though I’d seen Apollo 13 and First Man, and even though my grandfather had worked for a space program contractor in St. Louis. After I finished the book, I wanted to know “what happened next,” so on my way home from the residency, I requested a bunch of books from the library on Spacelab, the Shuttle program, the space station Mir, etc. Just as I got them all, it was early March 2020, and pandemic lockdowns started. Reading was a way to escape, and thinking about the confines of space stations and imagining the awe of seeing Earth from above kept me going during those anxious times. And as time went on, I had so much fun working on the poems: I got to geek out on space.
Who are your target readers; what do you hope they will take away from your book?
LA: That’s a great question! In some sense, people interested in reading contemporary poetry, of course, but also, I hope, people interested in spaceflight. I worry sometimes that naming the book Mom in Space limits its draw, that some male readers won’t be interested, for example. I had a friend who was told, jokingly, when she was pregnant that she’d need to write “mommy poems” after that. There are some poems about parenting in the book, for sure, but I hope its wider themes help those who have struggled to have children, or those concerned about climate issues, or those interested in how the civil rights era and the space program have overlapped.
What was the most challenging part of writing this book and why? And how did you overcome them?
LA: While the book is obviously about space and spaceflight, another major component is the experience of infertility (such a blah and clinical word for a deeply felt experience) and miscarriage. I had a hard time processing those experiences when they happened, but while I was shut away from the pandemic world in my house, as I read about space, I found myself writing new poems or revising others drafted earlier which helped me process through those things. In a sense, then, the challenging part was living the experiences that inspired some of the poems and then being willing to face them again during writing and revision.
Being at home with my family so much in the early pandemic helped me feel like I was working on my own. As the book has been released and I do readings from it, I’m sometimes surprised at the vulnerable details I included (like, “Why did I do this to myself?! Why am I letting people read this??”). Without that conjunction of situations, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that emotional work.
Can you discuss the significance of the book's title and cover design? How were these elements chosen, and what do they represent?
LA: The book title itself comes from something my son said when I first started working on the book. We were sitting together on the couch—he was about four or five—and he was just saying random things in singsongy ways, including, “A mom in space!” because he knew I was thinking and reading a lot about space. I wrote that down immediately, and it was the working title from then on, probably a year and a half before the first full draft of the book was complete.
About halfway through working on the book, I—just for fun—decided to see what kind of images I might find that would correspond to the name Mom in Space. As part of that, I came upon the work of Karen Jerzyk, who has an amazing series called “The Lonely Astronaut.” She bought a NASA suit from the 1960s in an oddity store several years ago, so the lonely astronaut in this suit can pose in all sorts of places, including a laundromat, desert landscape, staircases, and more. There were several images that I thought could represent Mom in Space, but the one we ended up using—with its vibrant orange mid-century modern drapes, its carpet peeling up from the floor, and the astronaut floating in the air—all seemed to fit themes of the book.
Mom in Space is now available from LSU Press or your preferred bookstore.