The Mother/Child Papers is Alicia Ostriker’s fourth book of poetry. It was originally published by Momentum Press in 1980 and was re-published in 1986 and 2009. The book is divided into four sections, and draws inspiration from the events of the Vietnam War era and Ostriker's personal experiences with motherhood. In the work, Ostriker juxtaposes meditations on war against musings of motherhood and the experience of birth. The many verses and prose pieces that comprise the book contrasts a woman's roles as teacher, mother, and wife, with the violence, corruption, and death of war.