My Take on Holiday Sadness A huge hurt builds inside me. My father died on Christmas Day 1986. It is a familiar, old hurt. This past year freshly layered that hurt with new hurts and loss. All four of my brothers have passed on. One in 1998, another in 2005. Mom died in […]
His Birthday and the Long Death of My Brother
I am sad that I cannot make a chocolate upside down birthday cake for you. I am happy you are no longer in pain. I am still angry that I am alone and that you and my other brothers all abandoned me in this life. I am telling your story as best I can. It has been 49 years since you were blown up on your damn birthday.
Poetry as Memoir
There are many ways to preserve relationships in written records. For those who have hundreds of pages of personal poetry, take the time to peruse what you have captured about family and events set in motion by family members as you create any retrospective about your life or family. Poetry often captures what prose cannot […]
A Legacy of One – Loss of Siblings
You were close. Maybe you could not stand each other. Or perhaps you were indifferent. Sibling relationships are as complex as any relationship in life, or death. As I write this I am 58 years old. At one time this might have been considered old. I do not feel old. I am not old. Old […]