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by Chanel Brenner It falls from my binder, cherry crayon streaks ripen in sun, LOVE RILEY— a valentine from my son, three weeks before he died, cutout paper once a tree, before its felling and reduction to pulp. I pick up the heart, hold it like a seed I’ll save to […]
Continue Readingby Chanel Brenner Stretching my legs after a walk down our old street, my dead son’s face came to me, the scar below his left eyebrow, the window of his missing two front teeth so clear, I had to sit for a minute, on someone else’s porch. You’d think we’d […]
Continue Readingby Chanel Brenner Riley is dead, and now, I make eggs for his brother, like I used to do for him. As I boil the water, I remember how Riley loved to shift them in the glass bowl while they cooled, watching light flicker the water, as if he beheld a world, […]
Continue Readingby Chanel Brenner I sat across from him, shooting his portrait with my phone. His charcoal sweatshirt faded into the dark booth. He played tic-tac-toe in the dim light. I should have known something was wrong, when he scribbled his X’s and O’s like a toddler— should have known his […]
Continue ReadingEditor’s note: over the next few weeks we will be publishing the works of Chanel Brenner. This is by way of introduction. Welcome to Dead Child World by Chanel Brenner Please try to make yourself comfortable. If it feels like you are outside your body, it’s because you are. Don’t worry, this is normal. It […]
Continue Readingby Barbara Hills LeStrang I need to talk about my loss. I may often need to tell you what happened – or to ask you why it happened. Each time I discuss my loss, I am helping myself face the reality of the death of my loved one. I need to know that you care […]
Continue Readingby Nat Juchems Loss of a child is something that most of us will experience in our lives, but many will never feel the pain and trauma of losing a child. It’s often referred to as the ultimate tragedy; the passing of a child is something that no parent ever expects to have to go […]
Continue ReadingA week or so ago, we were visiting with friends who I had not seen since my mother’s death in July. I had forgotten that I had not seen them, and so was not prepared for their very kind words when they first saw me and hugged me. So, I thanked them for their words […]
Continue ReadingEditor’s Note: in honor of D-Day, we publish this poem written to his mother by a World War One veteran, John Hunter Wickersham, who died serving his country. A short bio follows. The Raindrops on Your Old Tin Hat The mist hangs low and quiet on a ragged line of hills, There’s a whispering of […]
Continue ReadingGrief in the Emergency Department – personal lessons from loss By Dr Caroline Macari Two years ago something happened that, not to be overly dramatic, changed my life, including my everyday experience of my job as an emergency specialist. My older brother, Martin died of a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma that spread […]
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