Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Stillbirth
I sometimes go months without remembering you.
Some griefs bless us that way, not asking much space.
Judith Sanders: The Farewell
“Picture a staircase,”
the hypnotist said.
“At the top, a door
will open
onto a landscape.”
Deborah Bogen: Season of Light — and of Darkness
If you happen to meet someone for whom the season of light is a reminder of a dark time, of a sorrow or a loneliness, take a moment and sit with them, let them be that dark. Believe in their sorrow as you believe also in joy. Believe in them.
Michael Simms: Antbed
You may remember my father
died when I was eight
my mother closed up
the house and we went to stay
with my grandmother for a few months
Allegra Harpootlian: Why I Weep While I Work
A majority of my day is spent bearing witness to the pain, fear, and terror that America’s actions have been causing across the Greater Middle East and North Africa.
Edna St Vincent Millay: Ashes of Life
Love has gone and left me, — and the neighbors knock and borrow,
And life goes on forever like the gnawing of a mouse
Abby Zimet: Mother On A Mission — What Else Could You Do To Hurt Me?
Campaigning. Photo by Jessica McGowan/AP . Among the stories still trickling in of improbable mid-term victories – including news that recounts are now underway in the Florida races of both … Continue reading
Edna St. Vincent Millay: Time does not bring relief
Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! I miss him in the weeping of the rain; I want … Continue reading
Tristan Ahtone: How an Ancient Singing Tradition Helps People Cope With Trauma in the Modern World
Riitta Excell wore a pair of homemade wool socks: white with red floral patterns and rounded blue toes. Around her were women sipping tea and enjoying plum pastries and chicken … Continue reading
Fred Maus: The Sky Last Night
. The sky troubled me, raucous red and orange, wounded with gray. Between the sky and me, a hill. On the left, pine trees along the crest, sullen, heavy. To … Continue reading
Video: “Father Death Blues” sung by Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and one of the leading figures of both the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the … Continue reading
Michael Simms: What is Poetry For?
A few days ago, an old priest who was a colleague of my wife’s passed away, and Eva came home from work angry at the world. I was worried; Eva … Continue reading
Michele Seminara: Engraft
Originally posted on The Blue Hour:
A Sudden Absence When a sudden absence opens where before there was a lover, or a child, (a child’s worse, we must all agree…
Sam Hamill: On the Anniversary of Her Death
Awakened from a restless, wine-inspired sleep, I wake in the night to find Yuan Chen’s elegy and read, “Even if I had wings, the net of grief would snare me.” … Continue reading
