Grief Poetry

This full collection of 56 poems reflecting on the concept of self, loss, fragility, and the constructs we must create in order to face the transient nature of life was named a finalist in the National Poetry Series, The New Issues Poetry Prize, The Four Way Books Intro Prize, and others.

This book is an attempt to create something beautiful from this chaos; to make sense of the things we dare not breathe to life. Focusing on loss, heartbreak, mental health, and the impact of isolation on a tired mind, these poems are the starlings that gather above the water. This book is the hope that we can learn to heal; that the future can survive the past.

A stunning collection of poems that John Updike wrote during the last seven years of his life. The opening sequence, "Endpoint", is made up of a series of connected poems written on the occasions of his recent birthdays and culminates in his confrontation with his final illness. He looks back on the boy that he was, on the family, the small town, the people, and the circumstances that fed his love of writing, and he finds endless delight and solace in "turning the oddities of life into words".

Dive into Ink of Tears, where every poem is a journey through the complexities of the human broken heart. How do we navigate the highs and lows of love and loss? What makes us resilient in the face of heartache? How does love elevate us, and how does heartbreak shape us? For all who have loved deeply and got hurt, share a timeless journey with collections of poems that will touch and break your heart at the same time.

The poems in Enter Water, Swimmer: Poems travel physically and emotionally, addressing the human condition through evocative language. Enter Water, Swimmer and you will be steeped in various manifestations of this world and beyond, daring to take on diverse realms of women, belief, culture, and ethics.

The Heart of a Rose is a collection of 66 poems which tells a story. It reflects on the heart and feelings in relationships. Whether you're in love, a healing process, or single. There are emotions everyone can resonate with in this poetry book.

The Silver Lining of Tomorrow is a collaboration of poems and tidbits for all the Daddy’s girls out there. Traci Mahrt lost her father Melvin at the early age of 24. With a collection of poems found after his passing, Traci weaves in her own poems and shares her own life experiences with love, depression, and finding God.

Solidarity is a collection of poems that explore grief and heartbreak. These poems speak to your pain, and help you to feel less alone during your darkest times. Losing someone close to you, whether they choose to walk away or not, turns your world upside down. Overnight your life becomes completely different and you have to cope with a giant hole in your heart. A piece of you feels missing and suddenly you have no idea who you are anymore.

From NPR correspondent and New York Times bestselling author, Kwame Alexander, comes a powerful and provocative collection of poems that cut to the heart of the entrenched racism and oppression in America and eloquently explores ongoing events.

Unhinged: Putting the Pieces Back Together by Olena Rose showcases the unshakable strength and perseverance of the human spirit during times of romantic turmoil. Through emotionally-charged poetic storytelling, the listener is taken on a journey of healing and transformation that gains momentum page by page. By book’s end, one is instilled with an unwavering sense of self-empowerment and confidence to overcome any challenges of the heart.

Glory, is the debut poetry release from poet, Fonzie Graziano. Developed over a span of several years, the poems in this chapbook contain themes and images that have haunted the author for much of his life until this point. Glory is a journey in the maze of an ill afflicted psyche which touches on topics close to the daily struggles of the author’s upbringing; love, depression, death, infidelity, mental illness, heartbreak, and moving forward.

The poems in this collection fly from the microcosm of ripples in a lake to the macrocosm of light bending in a black hole, from math to jazz, from informal to formal, from the here-and-now to the hereafter. This short book contains an infinite universe - one that you will long to return to again and again.

Remember those biggies we loved in high school English? Well, here they are again performed by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti. You'll hear "Chicago" by Carl Sandberg, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats, "Song VII ("My song has put off her adornments")" by Rabindranath Tagore, and who can ever forget "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot.

Whether it's the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young's home places and his dear departed, and to what of them - of us - poetry can save.

The first selection of poems by renowned Iranian poet Garous Abdolmalekian to appear in English, this collection is a captivating, disorienting descent into the trauma of loss and its aftermath. In spare lines, Abdolmalekian conjures surreal, cinematic images that pan wide as deftly as they narrow into intimate focus. Time is a thread come unspooled: Pain arrives before the wound, and the dead wait for sunrise.

Attending to one's mother while she succumbs to cancer is no easy feat as this poetry chapbook will attest to.

Stephen C. Pollock's poetry collection Exits explores the beauty and frailty of life, the cycles of nature, and the promise of renewal. Musical and multilayered, the poems in Exits have drawn comparisons to the poetry of Seamus Heaney and the sonnets of William Shakespeare.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to the poem Femicide: When Friendship Meets Brutality today.

In Tired Wonder, Eric Overby offers a personal account of his last two years. 2021-2023 has seen both the continuation of a struggle with infertility and the birth of his daughter. Eric also changes careers and struggles with his new identity and the changes that come along, ultimately leading him to circle back around and return to it.

Despite Eliot's comparative youth at the time (he was in his early thirties) each poem brilliantly captures different aspects of the profound effect of the aging process on human aspiration.