Life After Death
Poignant
When my daughters suggested sharing my book signing event with a woman who sings, I loved the idea. When the singer and I talked about what it might be like, she said, “I should tell you, my songs tend toward the melancholy.”
I laughed. My daughters laughed louder. One of them said, “There will be a seamless blend between you two.”
That turned out to be true. Wonderful, poignant, evocative. When she was leaving she said, “I loved sharing that with you. Let’s go on the road and talk about death.”
If you ever have a chance to hear Edie Cary sing, don’t miss it. She is fiercely independent. Writes her own songs, refuses to tie herself to a record label. Her songs, accompanied by her beautiful voice, and wonderful, honest and often funny speaking, is an experience not to be missed.
I have included below a poem that came to me today on Poem-A Day. Not only does it challenge the usual poetic form, but it evokes the power of a relationship the poet is determined to hold onto with her Abuela (grandmother) who was her safe haven.
The Opposite of Abandonment
Copyright © 2023 by Alexis Aceves Garcia. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 31, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.
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“Watching someone die is a kind of intimacy. In grief, I keep, I cherish. I bring lilies for my dead. I learn how to stay.”
—Alexis Aceves Garcia
Lovely