Grief Poetry

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Smoke is a collection of poems written over the course of two years. It is portrait of grief and the courage it takes to sit with it. It is an account of what it feels like to be intimate with sadness and loneliness. It is a portrait of healing. Smoke is documentation of growth and its grueling processes. It begins in grief and ends in joy. It is a book where the black girl rescues herself.

Naomi Shihab Nye has spent thirty-five years traveling the world to lead writing workshops and inspire students of all ages. In her newest collection Transfer she draws on her Palestinian American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her extensive travel experiences to create a poetry collection that attests to our shared humanity.

“The Darkness Man” is Yesenin’s last major poetic work. It expressed the mood of despair and horror in front of an incomprehensible reality, a dramatic feeling of the futility of any attempts to penetrate the mystery of existence.

I often think about our youth. It was indeed a strangely shaped toy, with a short body dragging a very long tail, spreading like wings, refusing to leave. A lamp is still on, but a song has been sung. A play has not ended, a love has reached the end of the road. We salute you. And the new curtain is about to be drawn. Maybe that's what human life is like, ending, starting, starting again, then ending. No matter what, we have to shoulder our suffering and happiness, moving forward, don't turn around.

The women in Allison Adair’s debut collection—luminous and electric from the first line to the last—live in places that have been excavated for gold and precious ores. They understand the nature of being hollowed out, of being “the planet’s stone / core as it tries to carve out one secret place and fails.” And so, as these poems take us from the midst of the Civil War to our current era, they chart fairy tales that are at once unsettling and painfully familiar, never forgetting that cruelty compels us to search for tenderness.

'They have lightning in their souls, thunder in their hearts, chaos in their bones.' Nikita Gill's poetry has captured hearts and minds all over the world; her inspirational words have been shared hundreds of thousands of times online, plastered across placards on international women's marches and even transformed into tattoos. This collection will showcase mostly unseen poetry and prose, delving into ideas about passion, identity, empowerment and femininity. Written and read by Nikita Gill.

The powerful new collection of poetry and prose from social media’s answer to Carol Ann Duffy, Charly Cox. She Must Be Mad explores coming-of-age: the pain and beauty of love, the relief and the agony of turning from girl to woman, the isolation of an untethered mind and the power and subjugation of the body. Charly captures the formative experiences of today’s young women from the poignant to the prosaic in writing that is at once witty, wry and heartfelt.

On Being Human is a compilation of original poems by Ghazala Alam. Written in modern Urdu and English, each poem is introduced by an English preamble detailing her inspirations and insights. Accompanied by English transliteration, her poetry is informed by her experiences as an immigrant, woman, and a person of color.

We Are the Winter People is the collected works of Jenny Rowbory. The diverse range of poetry deals with love, loss, and the poet's ever-changing relationship with faith. Despite the struggles depicted within the work, it is an ultimately empowering collection, filled with strength, determination, and hope.

The Twilight Zone Haiku explores the essence of Rod Serling’s iconic, uncanny 1960s television show through haiku, giving us dazzling, spot-on snapshots of each episode. In seventeen syllables, Boykin captures the show's main objective: to deliver a keen jolt of existential awareness.

The story of Belvie Rooks and Dedan Gills, their journey and their transformation, is “as old as eternity and as new as now.” As individuals, Dedan and Belvie were already activists, mentors, and voices for justice, but in their union, they became an even greater force for compassion and love.

From the bestselling author of Pillow Thoughts and Watering the Soul comes another deeply honest and moving collection of poetry and prose that explores the strength and resilience we embody in the face of hardship and change. Presented in six captivating sections—Reflecting, Repairing, Change, Awakening, Emerging, and Rebirth—Time Will Tell tells the story of a curious, lost soul who crashed down to Earth on the search for purpose.

In the early 1990s, eight people living in a small conservative Florida town alleged that Dr. David Acer, their dentist, infected them with HIV. David's gayness, along with his sickly appearance from his own AIDS-related illness, made him the perfect scapegoat and victim of mob mentality. In these early years of the AIDS epidemic, when transmission was little understood, and homophobia rampant, people like David were villainized. Accuser Kimberly Bergalis landed a People magazine cover story, while others went on talk shows and made front page news.

Afterwards is a book about the things that come after trauma. It encompasses the different kinds of grief–primarily the loss of a friend to suicide, but also the loss of an important relationship, and dealing with some loss related to family. There are frank discussions of mental illness and the spectrum of emotions that come with moving forward.

In this urgent outpouring of American voices, our poets speak to us as they shelter in place, addressing our collective fear, grief, and hope from eloquent and diverse individual perspectives.

The final installment in a long journey of healing is the fieriest of them all. Out of the Ashes offers a roadmap for listeners seeking to emerge from devastation. Divided into seven sections—The Destruction, The End, The Quiet, The Wrath, The Transformation, The Arising, The Resurgence—this very personal and engaging new collection from prolific poet Courtney Peppernell illuminates a powerful journey of resilience and survival. It masterfully charts the process of rising again after your life has been burned to the ground.

Grief. An emotion we all experience at one time or another, but there is no grief greater then the loss of a loved one. In this short poem by William Hope Hodgson, the narrator is alone with his grief and the realization that what had been will never be again.

A stunning collection of poems that John Updike wrote during the last seven years of his life. The opening sequence, "Endpoint", is made up of a series of connected poems written on the occasions of his recent birthdays and culminates in his confrontation with his final illness. He looks back on the boy that he was, on the family, the small town, the people, and the circumstances that fed his love of writing, and he finds endless delight and solace in "turning the oddities of life into words".

"Through Grief's Tender Heart" is a heartfelt exploration of grief, offering a compassionate collection of narratives, reflections, and poems that delve into the depths of loss and healing. This book provides a sincere and intimate look at the grieving process, resonating with anyone who has faced the pain of loss. It is a literary embrace that explores the myriad emotions of grief, from the initial shock to the gradual journey toward healing.