Book Review: Dear Mothership by Marcus Wicker

 I Saw this book as an option at my library, and the vibrant cover art, and title found me grabbing it, lest someone else got to it first.  SPOILER, there was no one else in the library at that time. This feeling of urgency hit me out of nowhere. 

Then it rode around in my car, for over a week. It's a slim volume produced by Ecco and I think the size made it feel deceptive to me. Then, I borrowed it through the Libby app as I realized it was poetry and read by the author. Say what you will about audiobooks and reading... I will argue to the end of the day and into the next that there is nothing quite like experiencing poetry  read as it was meant to be heard. 

This cover art was created by the amazing artist April Bey.  I could not resist the cover. Not at all. 

  I picked up this one 4 days after the midterms and found that it was perfect timing and that many of the poems really resonated. Particularly this one line that I put below. 

 "If only in the beginning someone said, I wish us both could do more than survive" 

I had to "rewind" a few times. I meet so many people who really are feeling at the end of their rope these days, I do consider what we could have been if things had been different about a decade ago. 

The second thing that struck me is that Wicker and I grew up about a decade or so apart, in different parts of the US, with likely quite different experiences, but based on this collection, we were apparently listening to the same sound tracks.  References to iconic musicians are sprinkled throughout, and mad me feel more connected than I normally would to a book of poetry.  I'm not a huge poetry fan (for reasons) and I usually average 1 book a year of verse, and this was it for me.  I am glad I found this one, it fit into my outerspace theme (sort of) and  I feel like it enriched my day, and possibly more than just today. 

   Definitely one that I want on my shelf now. 

STATS

First Published: 9/8/26

Pages: 119

Available as an Audio Book :  YES  ~ 2hrs

Trigger Warnings: I didn't particularly find myself noting any "trigger warnings" 

(this is not a full list, read responsibly)