Ephemera  |  Mom’s Poetry  |  Poetry About Mom  |  Mom’s Prose  |  Mom’s Art |  Mom’s Justice Work  |  Mom’s Ancestor Work

My mother, Elizabeth Southworth Kitson Cooley-Prost, was born on June 29, 1944 and died on May 8, 2014. She was a poet, activist, artist, writer, biomedical researcher, storyteller, and one of the most brilliant human beings I’ve ever known.

I am profoundly grateful to be her daughter. Our relationship wasn’t always the easiest, but we both had a lot going on. Our relationship now is interesting, and I am deeply blessed to have been raised by such a wise, brilliant, complex person. I feel incredibly fortunate to be learning more about her since her death, through her writing, and continuing the ancestor work she started.

Mom died before she was done with what she wanted to do with her life. She had so much more wisdom to share with the world.

I feel like she is still teaching me, in unconventional ways. I aspire to take her generous lessons and run with them. (Especially since I’m the last daughter along that matriarchal line. There’s a lot of work what needs doing, and I hope I get it all done. Fortunately, I’ve got a lot of amazing people working with me.)