When Expectant Mothers Have a Village: Birthing Beautiful Communities’ Dear, at moCa

I recently went to moCa Cleveland for the opening of an exhibit of photos provided by Birthing Beautiful Communities: Dear. Dear is a tribute to the strength, resilience, and beauty of Black motherhood and the community that supports it. Birthing Beautiful Communities is an organization in Northeast Ohio that holistically supports pregnant women from the time they find out they are with child to the birth and beyond. Their goal is to support equitable birth outcomes in communities that have socio-economic disparities. They also have a book, Born to Be: A Tribute to Black Motherhood. This book can be purchased on the Birthing Beautiful Communities website.
I have a connection to this organization as they assisted me in my birth with my daughter seven years ago. My doula is Verna Darby, and she was there from my knowing I was pregnant to the delivery room, when I gave birth to Love Jones in 2017. She was at the opening on January 24, 2025. We got to reconnect and it was a joy for her to see Love Jones at age 7, knowing she was the one holding my hand and supporting me as I pushed my baby girl out. Without her, I don’t know if I would have been confident in this journey that is learned while doing the work.
Birthing Beautiful Communities is an important organization as their goal is to reduce issues that take place with women in urban communities as they are pregnant. I was also a victim in 2010 of losing a baby, as I lost my son Elijah Henry, due to my lack of knowledge, lack of support, and just plain ignorance. Birthing Beautiful Communities is an integral part of Northeast Ohio. The exhibit runs at MOCA until June 1, 2025. I implore all to witness it.
Poem for Motherhood
Motherhood is a journey that takes up your whole life.
Forces the pregnant woman to learn to care for a person
other than her own. Forces adulthood and arrangement.
I’m a mother. I give myself selflessly from the time
my child wakes until she rests. I give what I know and
I give what I learn. For her safety. Her growth. Her design.
Giving transformation a face, motherhood drives bonds
with strangers becoming sisters and mothers, and doulas and midwives
and a sense of confidence in a journey without a handbook.
Exerts evolution, sometimes, jolts jagged nights, alone, because
a lot of mothers are single. Pressures responsibilities and smiles,
when all a mother wants is her former life before birth. Especially of a
mother, a mom mommy, mum, a woman that loses herself everyday
to ensure the human she birthed has a better life than her. The mother,
selflessly, gives her spirit to the protection of the child. It is automatic.
Bred. Born. Instinct. Natural. Unknown. Unforgiving. Spiritless. Love
It is a joy. Sadness. Anger. Controlling emotions. Empathic. Intuitive.
Unique. Healing. Extraordinary. Adverse. Struggle. Suffering. Pain.
It evolves. Becomes sturdy. Is trusting. Is honest. Ethereal. Surreal.
Abstract. Embarrassing. Needing to ask for help. Humiliating. Quiet.
Finding time. Losing time. Asking for more time. Giving away time.
Motherhood is the club that does not come with instructions. It somehow
functions on the shoulders of the lost word and mouth and wail and womb.
Being a mother takes strength. It is because of cohesive communities that
birth beautiful, families flourish. Being pregnant is rough. Being black
and being pregnant and low income and single makes pregnancy more
complicated. Forces a straight line with a wet cord. Motherhood is neverending.
It’s eternal. Internal. Thankless. Yet so gratuitous. It is the silver lining in a
linen jumpsuit. It’s the bubble bath when the babies are asleep. The joy
when the child accomplishes a milestone. It’s the breast milk that leaks
and the mother keeps pumping. It’s a slap on the wrist. It’s discipline.
For the child and the mother. It’s a conceptual poem. It doesn’t follow
a form. It follows a stuttered path. Follows ancestors. Is Born to Be. a
book. It’s open and private. It’s clothed and naked. A clusterfuck. That
guides a human to its full potential if done correctly. There isn’t an
instruction manual – being a mom. Nothing that insures motherhood
will work. Yet it does work. Everytime. In loss and light, giving
birth serves. Love. Wealth. Community. Village. Sacrifice. Example.
Nurse. Doctor. Midwife. Doula. Aide. Mother. Father. Child. Faith.
Lessons. Learning. Responsibility. Growth. Evolution. Cleveland.
Motherhood, is the thing that brings us to a place of peace that
passes all understanding. It is the peace that passes all routes
selfish. It is the honor that drives upward mobility. With the help
of organizations like Birthing Beautiful Communities, motherhood
becomes a sisterhood. Hugs the body and the heart. Forgives the
past and ushers the present. Ushers peaceful babies, poised mothers.
Birthing Beautiful Communities: Dear
January 24 – June 1, 2025
moCa Cleveland
11400 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
216.421.8671
moCacleveland.org
Kisha Nicole Foster won the Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature as an Emerging Artist in 2019.
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