Who I am.

I write about the landscape of grief, nature, and the wisdom of fools. The author of four books, my essays, poems, and reviews have been published in over 50 journals, including in the Huffington Post and Colorado Review. I’ve won the River Teeth Nonfiction Book Award, the Chautauqua and Literal Latte’s essay prizes, and my work has been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes and named a notable by Best American Essays. My account of hiking in Yosemite to deal with my wife’s death, Mountains of Light, was published by the University of Nebraska Press. http://www.markliebenow.com.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Isak Dinesen and Grief




All sorrows can be borne if they are put into a story, Isak Dinesen said. She’s right. Writing unties grief’s knots. Writing unhooks death’s claws from our flesh. 

We write grief out of our system by recording all of our thoughts, feelings, memories, heartaches, and sorrows, writing until we can’t think of anything else to say. When something more shows up, we write that down, too.


* If you would like to read the rest of this post, let me know and I’ll send it to you. *

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