Thank you for this, Shannan. Until I lost my wife two years ago, I had never written a grieving poem (perhaps I have had a charmed life, or perhaps I'm just callous and selfish). I have now written a few, although I find that I still mostly write about other things. Grief doesn't go away, but it can recede. In the course of this, I found that it was very important to separate the grief from the poem. If you want to make art from grief and still be true to both the art and the grief, the separation is necessary.
Therefore, I submitted my poem to my regular critique group, and I told them, "Please be honest about what can be improved. I understand that you are critiquing my poem, not my grief. I want the poem to be worthy of the grief, so please don't tiptoe around its flaws." After all, one can't say "don't touch my holy inviolable grief" when someone points out a weak image, too-abstract description, or opportunity for improvement. It must be worked over like any other poem you are serious about.
And they helped. They helped a great deal and recommended several... "surgical interventions." The final version is up on my substack, if anyone cares to go look. I think it may qualify as "not bad" at this point. Without my subjecting it to their scrutiny, it would have remained unworthy.
This is exactly what I needed to read. I can't wait to read all the referenced poems now. Thanks so much for this extremely helpful and specific craft essay, Shannon.
No! 😆 (I’m sorry, I’m weird and I had to do that. It made me laugh. 🤭) Great read that definitely made me want to level up in my own work! Challenge accepted. 😉 🖤
Yes, sorrow can be a dam holding back the flow but a poem about that doesn’t help anyone. And what use is a poem that doesn’t help whether or not we want its help? The best sad poems don’t wallow. They keep living through it, help us see the world outside the telescope. Keep us living through it. Living is the closest we have for a cure for sorrow. Anyway, people mostly love sad art more. Just don’t solve the sorrow with a poem. Ride it.
This is such an excellent compilation. Thank you! Loved reading it.
Thank you for this, Shannan. Until I lost my wife two years ago, I had never written a grieving poem (perhaps I have had a charmed life, or perhaps I'm just callous and selfish). I have now written a few, although I find that I still mostly write about other things. Grief doesn't go away, but it can recede. In the course of this, I found that it was very important to separate the grief from the poem. If you want to make art from grief and still be true to both the art and the grief, the separation is necessary.
Therefore, I submitted my poem to my regular critique group, and I told them, "Please be honest about what can be improved. I understand that you are critiquing my poem, not my grief. I want the poem to be worthy of the grief, so please don't tiptoe around its flaws." After all, one can't say "don't touch my holy inviolable grief" when someone points out a weak image, too-abstract description, or opportunity for improvement. It must be worked over like any other poem you are serious about.
And they helped. They helped a great deal and recommended several... "surgical interventions." The final version is up on my substack, if anyone cares to go look. I think it may qualify as "not bad" at this point. Without my subjecting it to their scrutiny, it would have remained unworthy.
This had some great insights and now I need to start writing again✍️ 🏃♂️
Ali's line "Piercing me to the brain" is extra poignant when one thinks of his death.
I knew him.
I miss him.
i read out loud as instructed and my cat was not impressed. i fear the finer details of poetics escape her 😹
This is exactly what I needed to read. I can't wait to read all the referenced poems now. Thanks so much for this extremely helpful and specific craft essay, Shannon.
No! 😆 (I’m sorry, I’m weird and I had to do that. It made me laugh. 🤭) Great read that definitely made me want to level up in my own work! Challenge accepted. 😉 🖤
Thank you for these wonderful poems.
Yes, sorrow can be a dam holding back the flow but a poem about that doesn’t help anyone. And what use is a poem that doesn’t help whether or not we want its help? The best sad poems don’t wallow. They keep living through it, help us see the world outside the telescope. Keep us living through it. Living is the closest we have for a cure for sorrow. Anyway, people mostly love sad art more. Just don’t solve the sorrow with a poem. Ride it.
Such great examples here to illustrate your point!
It's wonderful how fate often conspires to place messages right in front of me to read right when I need them. Thanks for writing this.