5 Comments

Thank you for sharing such a beautiful poem -- and for the meditation on grief. It immediately drew my mind to Jane Kenyon's poem "The Sick Wife" -- and the line "Dry cleaning swung and gleamed on hangers" -- the hyper awareness of the ordinary that accompanies grief. Kenyon's writing and sharing of this poem, her last before dying, so shot through with aloneness and sadness, perhaps illuminates the Grey "we" ... a feeling so universal, yet so private and personal. Thank you, as always, for sparking many thoughts and feelings.

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Thanks so much, Jeff! I adore Kenyon’s work — and yes, that insistence on the ordinary. Her work did that so well and so often.

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What a beautiful poem and meditation on the poem. Your last paragraph is so profound, and feels so perfectly fitting to me as we enter into this new year. Thank you.

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I searched my inbox for “grief” and your entry from exactly one year ago came up. We lost a family member last night and reading your (and Grey’s) words soothed me a bit. Thank you.

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I wish you were my English teacher at high school.

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