Poet Alice Derry On Mourning A Complicated Relationship

Elizabeth Austen — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Mourning begins in a kind of thick non-seeing,
only later clarified, gradually lightening,
until we recognize what our lives must carry.

So begins "The Planet Closest To Us," Alice Derry's frank and moving poem about grieving the loss of someone who it was not always easy to love -- her mother. Derry reads her poem, and talks about the unexpected gift in her mother's passing.