Featured Works: Week of Nov. 3 (Grief)

By on Nov 5, 2014 in Issue Archives

Sunrise on a Vermont lake

While I was already planning to put together an issue of works related to mourning, in keeping with All Soul’s Day, a day of prayers for the dead held shortly after Halloween, the theme unexpectedly became even more relevant to me personally. I dedicate this issue to the memory of fellow writer Nathalie Cassiers, known on LiveJournal as agirlnamedluna, whom I met through the online writing contest/lifestyle known as LJ Idol. Nathalie would probably have preferred a gripping tale of black magick and intrigue, but I hope, if she’s reading this from her heavenly laptop, that she will enjoy these thoughtful, beautiful poems.

“Cat and Child” by John Weil takes us through the grief process for a pet.

“Before water was water it grieved” by Simon Perchik effortlessly uses a water metaphor to describe the cycle of life.

“Cloying” by Peter Layton captures the moment of grieving over bad news.

“The Lost Poem” by Leslie Philibert eloquently captures the complicated emotions surrounding great tragedies.

About

Alyce Wilson is the editor of Wild Violet and in her copious spare time writes humor, non-fiction, fiction and poetry and infrequently keeps an online journal. Her first chapbook, Picturebook of the Martyrs; her e-book/pamphlet, Stay Out of the Bin! An Editor's Tips on Getting Published in Lit Mags ; her book of essays and columns, The Art of Life; her humorous nonfiction ebook, Dedicated Idiocy: How Monty Python Fandom Changed My Life, and her newest poetry collection, Owning the Ghosts, can all be ordered from her Web site, AlyceWilson.com. In late 2019, she published a volume of poetry by her third great-grandfather, Reading's Physician Poet: Poems by Dr. James Meredith Mathews, which also contains genealogical information about the Mathews family. She lives with her husband and son in the Philadelphia area and takes far too many photos of her handsome, creative son, nicknamed Kung Fu Panda.