Grief Poetry

Temp jobs, conspiracy theories, squatters, talk therapy, urban gardening, the robot revolution: this collection fixes its eye on the strangeness of labor, through poems that are searching, keen, and wry. The virtuosic central sequence explores the untimely death of the poet’s estranged father, a handyman and addict, and the brothers left to sort through the detritus of a life long lost to them. Through lyrical, darkly humorous vignettes, Kunz asks what it costs to build a home and a love that not only lasts but sustains.

“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.

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".

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.

A collection of poems that delves into the depths of human emotion, blending the serenity of the ocean with the complexity of the soul. Each poem is a wave, carrying listeners through themes of love, loss, hope, and self-discovery. With evocative imagery and lyrical grace, this anthology invites you to explore the intimate whispers that lie within the currents of our hearts. Perfect for anyone seeking solace and inspiration in the rhythm of words.

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.

In these poems, Kleber-Diggs names delight in the same breath as loss. Moments suffused with love—teaching his daughter how to drive; watching his grandmother bake a cake; waking beside his beloved to ponder trumpet mechanics—couple with moments of wrenching grief—a father’s life ended by a gun; mourning children draped around their mother’s waist; Freddie Gray’s death in police custody. Even in the refuge-space of dreams, a man calls the police on his Black neighbor.

A maniacal crow tells a sad odyssey about his strange entanglement with depression.

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.

From the author's leather-bound book kept locked at the base of his bed, we journey through New York City, chilled farmlands and isolated cabins in the woods. Calloway's solid masculine approach is refreshingly original. We have all felt the warmth of the world around us and we have all felt the cold. This author holds our hand as he leads us down rich passageways of the psyche.

When I was in the fourth grade, we had a map of Vietnam on our kitchen wall. When my mother received an airmail letter, she would walk to the map and move one of the stickpins to a new location to see if one of her brothers was in harm’s way in some new hot spot or battle. I spent a lot of time worrying about that map. I had five uncles in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. This is a book about going off to war, a book about coming back home, and a book about those who are left behind. I dedicate this book to those voices, my family, and every voice calling out at times of war.

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.

This short poem, first published in 1717, became one of Pope's best-known verse works. The actual history of the lady appears to have been intentionally concealed by the poet under a mysterious veil. Dr. Johnson offers the following details, based on the content of the poem: that the lady was distinguished by her rank, fortune, and beauty; that she was committed to the care of an uncle who was being crossed in her affections by her guardian, who opposed her marriage.

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.

"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.

Unlike his more famous fellow war poets, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon survived the First World War. In this collection of 64 poems, first published in 1920, Sassoon portrays the dehumanizing horror of modern warfare with its staggering death toll, while also satirizing the jingoistic fervour of politicians and armchair strategists.

If Ollie Schminkey’s Dead Dad Jokes asks the question, “What was it like to watch my father die?”, Where I Dry the Flowers asks “How did watching someone die teach me how to live?” This unrestrained and raw sophomore collection explores themes of grief, healing, and forgiveness while refusing to sacrifice the hard truths that come with addiction, caretaking, and the death of a loved one. Ollie opens their heart to listeners and tells them that these emotions are okay, no matter how conflicting and confusing they may be.

You have been looking for this book for quite some time. Pick it up to begin a journey into the deepest depths of the human psyche and the darkest corners of the imagination. Dare to delve into the human psyche's unspeakable corners and passages with this chilling horror anthology collecting some of history's greatest English poems.

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.