All that We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy

Bridget Bell teaches composition and literature at Durham Technical Community College in Durham, North Carolina. All that We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy is her debut poetry collection.  

Introduction by Riah Patterson, MD


I.

Directive for Women Who Are Not Yet Mothers but Will Become Mothers
This Is How You Lose Your Body
Origin Stories
My doctor recounts to me an anecdote
Paranoia’s Genesis
Pressure
Raising Mothers
Checkup
Sestina in Which the World Fails to Tell You About the Tedium
Plea
Dangerous for Mothers


II.

Root Cause Analysis of Perinatal Mood Disorders
Postpartum Depression
This is for the mother (Perinatal Mood Disorders Inpatient Unit)
Sleep Deprivation
Portraits of Postpartum Anxiety
This is for the mother (intrusive thoughts)
Rumination
Escape
This is for the mother (postpartum psychosis)


III.

A Survivor of Postpartum Depression Explains Why She Wants Another Baby
Co-opting Anne Carson’s “The Glass Essay” to Process My Miscarriage


IV.

Pregnancy Anaphora
Lemons and Grapefruits
Recurrence of Depression with Third Pregnancy
The Peas
On Not Waiting It Out to See If I Feel Better
Collective
Apology to My Daughter While Rocking My Infant Son
On Beginning to Heal
Elegy with Resistance
I worry about women
Dear New Mother—
Don’t Tell Her Congratulations
The Language of Becoming Well


Notes
Acknowledgments