Cigarettes and Turpentine: An Ode to My Artist-Mother
“The women I admire most are artist-mothers, who are able to create with pleasure and abandon.”
before
that’s when your uncle moved out of our home and I lived in the country; this is a painting I did when your dad was on tour and I was lonely; that’s a picture of you and me when you were little
Make workbecause then you’ll never be lonelyA woman needs to be able to spend time alone and be okay, because that’s what keeps you from settling for less with men.
I’m sorry I haven’t got dinner readyWhen I’m working, I forget about food. That’s why it’s hard to paint and have children—you forget to feed them.
Madelaine Lucas is a senior editor of the literary annual NOON. Her debut novel Thirst For Salt is forthcoming in the US from Tin House in 2023. She is a graduate of the fiction MFA program at Columbia University and has taught workshops in the Columbia University Undergraduate Writing Program and Summer High School Program.
Enter your email address to receive notifications for author Madelaine Lucas
Success!
Confirmation link sent to your email to add you to notification list for author Madelaine Lucas
More in this series
My Brother Died from a Heroin Overdose
I leaned over the casket with tears streaming down my face. They dripped onto my brother’s body, his hands, my hands.
My Mother’s Secret Garden
The students turned a gray patch of earth into their own tiny Eden, a secret oasis of their own.
Orbits Around My Grandmother: On the Anxiety of Loneliness
“The phenomenon of lonely deaths for aging populations echoes in many pockets around the world.”