Mark Liebenow - Grief (formerly Widowers Grief)
“Speaking of That … which we weren’t” was published in the Chautauqua Literary Journal. This is a print-only journal, so you can’t read it online.
But “Fragile, Fracture, Fear” is online. It was published by Cleaver Magazine, and this is the link:
https://www.cleavermagazine.com/fragile-by-mark-liebenow/
gratefully,
Mark
As I slowly made my way through the landscape of grief, I began to find words that were capable of expressing the depths and devastation of the grief I felt, and how it flowed and meandered like water.
“Like Water” is my essay on losing Evelyn and how we like to tease Death by taking risks, some of the dangerous, until someone we dearly love dies. It was published this month by the superb Linden Review, one of the few literary journals that is dedicated to exploring the complexities of the word health.
You can read my essay at this link: https://www.lindenreview.com/liebenow-like-water
Under the Sun literary journal chose my essay as one of its nominations for the Pushcart Prize.
The essay recounts my hike up to the top of Clouds Rest in Yosemite, at nearly 10,000 feet, when I was trying to find a place of acceptance after the death of my wife Evelyn:
Steven Church – “Pooling Resources”
Ren Cedar Fuller – “Naming My Father
Wes Lee – “Maybe Tomorrow”
Mark Liebenow – “Walking West with a Mountain”
Kathleen Melin – “Strangely Wonderful”
Elaine Palencia – “Right Here with E.T.”
You can read the essay at this link:
https://underthesunonline.com/wordpress/2023/683-2
Mark Liebenow writes about nature, grief, and wisdom of fools. The author of four books, his essays, poems, and critical reviews have been published in numerous literary journals. His work has been named a notable by Best American Essays and nominated for four Pushcart Prizes. Mark has won the River Teeth Nonfiction Book Award, and the Chautauqua and Literal Latte’s essay prizes. He studied English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and creative nonfiction at Bradley University. markliebenow.com
I’m delighted to share the news that one of my essays about hiking in Yosemite to deal with my wife’s death was published this week by Under the Sun Literary Journal.
It’s called “Walking West with a Mountain,” and you can read it using this link:
https://underthesunonline.com/wordpress/2023/683-2/
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I admit it’s unexpected, but I find Grief romantic.
She gives me her undivided attention, but she’s badass. A tiger-woman. Wounded-little-bird woman. Wild, frontier woman with soft doe eyes and fishnet stockings. I never know what she’s going to do next.
Grief whispers in my ear, entices me to dig deeper into emotions than I want to go. Asks what I loved best about Evelyn, and when I tell her, she twists the knife. “You don’t have that anymore, do you!” Then she slams me to the floor and walks out the door.
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I’m mindful of Mary today, the Jewish madonna, because January 6 is the celebration of Epiphany that commemorates when Mary welcomed the three wisdom teachers of the East. Because of their gifts for baby Jesus, she began to understand the nature of her future grief.
I’m also thinking of the unheralded compassion of mothers and grandmothers throughout the centuries who have taken on suffering in order to help the abused, the hungry, the poor, the disenfranchised, the widowed and the lonely. They brought healing to people from the body of the earth, and brought the spirituality and wisdom of the body and the heart into their communities of faith.
