Welcome to my last book club discussion for LOVE IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL WARMING!
Today I’m going to talk about other writing—namely, poetry! I have written poems since I was very young and went on to study poetry at UC Berkeley. My work evolved from poems to short stories to novels but the basis of all my writing is in poetry. I sometimes do a 30 day poetry challenge where I post a poem a day on my blog www.francescaliablock.com. One poem from my last challenge is about the death of my mother and relates very much to what happens to Pen in LOVE IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL WARMING.
Grief
trapped in a small glass box
tattoo blue ink on my skin
a closet full of missing shoes
and pairs that crushed my bones
destroyed my feet
dust and crumpled silks and sweaters
an empty page
a blank canvas
a pond clogged with dead weeds and the bones of fish
yellowing grass
a dripping faucet
the sound of her voice no longer in my ears
no music at all
no dancing in the living room
no dancing
food without taste
her, gone
ashes unscattered
still in their urn
we're afraid to touch them
grief is the underworld
persephone's realm
a single pomegranate seed
life without demeter
did anyone think
that the daughter might have grieved too
even with hades to fill her
and mine comes so briefly
mother, mother
under the ground
she would say
is where the seeds begin
Like Penelope I went into the “underworld” after my mother died. I’ve finally emerged. I think that part of this has to do with the healing power of writing. It has helped me process my loss and grief and I hope reading and writing can do the same for you. When my mom died I realized that we really have very little on this earth except for the ability to care for each other. That is why I believe so deeply in the power of
Love,
flb
Question of the day: What do you do creatively to express your grief? Does it involve writing poetry, short stories, songs?
