A Derek Mahon poem read on Irish state television assures us that “Everything Is Going to Be All Right.”
Tag Archives: death and dying
The Sun Rises in Spite of Everything
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Everything Is Going to Be All Right", COVID-19, Derek Mahon, Illness | Comments closed
The Old Wild Place Beyond All Shame
My friend Sue Schmidt alerted me to this Easter season meditation by Richard Rohr that uses a David Whyte poem to explain what Jesus meant when he said, “Anyone who wants to save his life must lose it. Anyone who loses her life will find it.” Rohr believes that Jesus is not calling for people […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Old Wild Place", David Whyte, Nature, Resurrection, Richard Rohr | Comments closed
When Great Souls Die
Tuesday Today is the 19th anniversary of my oldest son’s death. When Justin died in a freak drowning accident in 2000, our world turned upside down. He was 21 at the time and would have been 40 this year. In “When Great Trees Fall,” Maya Angelou captures much of what I experienced. I’m struck by […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "When Great Trees Fall, Beowulf, death of a child, Grendel's mother, grief and grieving, Maya Angelou | Comments closed
Along the Flower Trail We Shall Go
Spiritual Sunday My mother lost her favorite cousin on Friday, a woman who somehow managed to remain upbeat for years despite a brain tumor. I’ve been reading Music of the Sky: An Anthology of Spiritual Poetry and found five short poems, all of them heartrendingly beautiful short poems, that I hope will bring comfort to […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Empty-handed I entered the world", "It is above that you and I shall go", "Pure Morning Dew", "Seventy-one!", "What Is Life", Chief Isapwo Muksika Crowfoot, Dogen Kigen, Kabayashi Issa, Kozan Ichikyo, Wintu poet | Comments closed
R.I.P. Mary Oliver, Bride of Amazement
Friday Mary Oliver, who died yesterday, may have been America’s favorite poet. I taught her Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive for over 20 years in a nature-focused Introduction to Literature class and so have seen up close her impact on readers. When death has entered my own life, I have often turned to Oliver’s poetry. For […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Blossom", "In Blackwater Woods", "In Pinewoods Crows and Owl", "The Fish", "University Hospital Boston", "When Death Comes", Lost Children, Mary Oliver | Comments closed
Refusal to Mourn a Death by Fire?!
How do we process the deaths caused by California’s Camp Fire? Dylan Thomas’s scandalously title “Refusal to Mourn” offers a way.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Refusal to Mourn the Death by Burning of a Child in London", California fires, Camp Fire, Dylan Thomas, mourning | Comments closed
A Final Resting Place on the Shore
Friday Yesterday Julia and I buried the ashes of writer Rachel Kranz, a dear friend who died a year ago. Her remains were divided between three who were close to her, and I chose to bury those allotted to me on the shore of Lake Eva, which sits on the edge of a bluff in […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Lake Isle of Innisfree", "Slumber did my spirit seal", Emily Bronte, W. B. Yeats, William Wordsworth, Wuthering Heights | Comments closed
Mourning the Loss of a Son
Longfellow turned to the story of Absolom to console a friend who had lost a son. “Chamber over the Gate” captures the grief in a supportive way.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged death of a son, grieving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | Comments closed
Coping with Aging through Poetry
Wordsworth has written some of the world’s great poems for coping with aging.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Prelude", Aging, Intimations of Immortality, Tintern Abbey, William Wordsworth | Comments closed
