Bring Your Kids to Work Day

What if on Bring
Your Kids to Work Day
I brought my books?
What if I sat them next to me
on an a wheeled office chair,
facing me cover first,
my nom de plume on them,
their birth mother,
their title their given name,
copyright their birthday,
page numbers their weight,
ISBN their social,
registered with government
before they ever hit the shelves,
immersed in the workday
the way a child would be
were my human children children
anymore? What if I introduced
my books as my mini-mes,
part and parcel of my body,
birthed naturally by my brain,
ushered in by science, tech, tools
of the trade? It was quite
a long pregnancy, I’d say.
Labor was a bitch.
Would I raise an eye? Would I
even catch an eye?
Would someone spin the children
in the chair, roll them around the office,
laugh, pick them up and decide
they were worth their time?
Read to them by reading them?
Listen to them laugh and say,
“I don’t want this to end!”
make me forget the pain of delivery?
Okay, then. You convinced me.
I’ll conceive another.

#KatherinesCoffeehouse
#PoetryMonth

Katherine Gotthardt

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, M.Ed., writing concentration, hails from the Northern Virginia/D.C. metro area. She considers herself a writer by nature and by trade, having begun writing for fun as soon as her mother helped teach her to read. An active part of the literary community, Katherine was a past-president and a founding member of Write by the Rails (WbtR), the Prince William Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club. Katherine has been a Prince William County Poet Laureate nominee and was the winner of Inside Nova’s 2019 and 2020 Best of Prince William award in the category of author. Her poetry and prose book Get Happy, Dammit: Staying Inspired and Motivated in an Often-Unhappy World received a Silver Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association. Katherine's children’s book, A Crane Named Steve, hit number one in its category on Amazon in 2019. Katherine then took first place in the free verse category of Loudoun County Library Foundation’s 2020 Rhyme On poetry contest for her piece "Discussion Topic." The Prince William Arts Council and Poet Laureate Circle awarded her the 2020 Outstanding Poetry Project Award for her leadership in Write by the Rails' Poems Around Town poetry installation. In 2021 Katherine earned second place for "Aftermath" in a Poetry Society of Virginia national contest and the regional Seefeldt Award for Arts Excellence in the category of Individual Artist. She won first place in the Virginia Writers Club statewide Golden Nib contest in the poetry category for her poem "Kayak." Katherine was recognized as a PW Perspective 2021 DMV Best Business award winner in the category of author. In April 2023, Katherine’s poem “Now Entering Manassas” was the winner of Manassas, Virginia's adult “time capsule” poetry contest. Katherine read her poem at the 150th anniversary celebration, the translated version by Jorge de Villasante was read in Spanish by Bianca Menendez, her poem was published in Neighbors of Historic Manassas magazine, and it was included in the city’s time capsule. While Katherine is well-known for her poetry, she also has established a solid reputation for writing articles, columns and short fiction. She is published in dozens of journals and anthologies and has authored 12 books: Poems from the Battlefield, Furbily-Furld Takes on the World, Approaching Felonias Park, Weaker Than Water, Bury Me Under a Lilac, Late April, A Crane Named Steve, Get Happy, Dammit, D.C. Ekphrastic: Crisis of Faith, Thirty Years of Cardinals Calling, Get Happier, Dammit and We All Might Be Witches. She uses proceeds from her books to support giving back initiatives.
Scroll to Top