Mark Liebenow - Grief (formerly Widowers Grief): Secondary Losses

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.

Showing posts with label Secondary Losses. Show all posts

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Secondary Losses

(for K.)

No one just dies, and no one just grieves.

Grief is complicated. You lose more than the person when someone dies. You lose a network of connections, your foundations are shaken, and you no longer know who are.

Self. You lose part of yourself, because part of you came alive when they were around. You can’t just plug someone new into the hole and go on as before. You choose your friends carefully, and their deaths take chunks of you away. Who are you now?