Joy and Grief as Next Door Neighbors

On learning to hold space for conflicting emotions

Welcome to Grief House, a place for people experiencing death and loss to process their grief with poetry and community. Subscriptions are $5/month, or $55/year. If that is cost prohibitive for you for any reason, please reach out so I can comp your subscription.

A quick announcement! The first session of The Worst (Writing) Club, our monthly virtual gathering, will be held on Sunday, November 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. EST/5:00 p.m. MST. We will be reflecting on a poem or two together, then have a writing session with optional sharebacks.

I will send out the Zoom link the day before. These sessions are included for paid subscribers and are $10 for non-subscribers. If you are not a paid subscriber, you can sign up for the just the workshop through Buy Me A Coffee. Please note that the payment is for the workshop, and I will make sure you get the Zoom link. I would love to see you there!

My Dad & I at a wedding together in 1990.

We Shake With Joy

We shake with joy, we shake with grief.
What time they have, these two
housed as they are in the same body.
- by Mary Oliver

Last weekend I attended my first wedding since my Dad died, and boy, was it an emotional rollercoaster. I shook with joy as my friend shone with happiness as she floated like lace up the aisle. I shook with grief as I stole into the desert night during the reception, unable to bear the loving toasts from the groom’s family who had also lost their father. I shook, I danced, I cried sad tears, I cried happy tears, I grieved, I felt true elation for my friend and her love.