JESSICA CHAPNIK KAHN did not intend to write a book in the first weeks and months following the birth of her son. But it was in this time, immersed in an exquisite, difficult bliss, that she found herself inadvertently drawing his face and scribbling down her new experiences without restraint. It was a quiet attempt to grasp the ungraspable. MADRE is a very personal exploration of the mysterious unfolding of becoming a mother. This raw collection of poems and drawings honour the mystical process of creation, transformation and expansion. They are never far from the grief inherent in joy, as well as the inseparable nature of birth and death.