Abandoning the Dark Side

“I stopped thinking about extreme grief as the sole vehicle for great art when the grief started to take people with it.” – Hanif Abdurraqib

Of grief, I have seen my share,
for years it was the vehicle that drove my writing.
In despair, I literally wrote the book,
thinking that was all of any worth I had to say.

No one would want to read
anything less worthy,
anything homely, simple, uplifting
or kind. Would they?

I hammered home with bludgeoning words
abuse as a child and an adult,
the death of my baby, divorce,
and sickness in mind and body.

Yet gradually, through love and time
new writing began, new themes clarified
hope, life, and light, beacons in the dark,
warmth, kindness, and home, always home.

I discovered a stronger voice within,
that dared to be happy,
that refused to despair any longer,
invited others to join, and to my shock, they did.