After discovering her mother's letters, Staceyann Chin examines Hazel's past and how her absence shaped Chin's poetry, politics, and parenting. Chin navigates revelations about Hazel while raising her own daughter, Zuri, in an joyful way.
Content Advisory: Homophobia
LGBTQ poet Staceyann Chin has spent decades trying to reconcile the abandonment by her mother in A Mother Apart. When Staceyann Chin was a 9-year-old in Jamaica, her mother Hazel for a new life in Montreal. Now a lesbian beat poet, Staceyann is still trying to cope with this abandonment while trying to be a mother to her 9-year-old daughter Zuri.
A Mother Apart Synopsis
A Mother Apart is a documentary by Laurie Townshend about Jamaican-American beat poet Staceyann Chin. Staceyann’s childhood abandonment by her mother is the subject of both her poetry and her solo show MotherStruck!. As a teenager, Staceyann would eventually track her mother to Cologne and attempt to develop a relationship with her younger sister Laura. However, even after the reunion, Staceyann’s relationship with her mother was tense, due to the latter not agreeing with Stacyann’s status as a lesbian.
My Thoughts on A Mother Apart
Staceyann Chin is part of a generation of Caribbean children nicknamed the barrel children, since their parents would move to new lives in North America and send back barrels full of supplies. A Mother Apart deals with the conundrum of Staceyann Chin trying to be a mother to her daughter, while also having unresolved issues about her mother. The result is an interesting character study.