The Duration of Grief

My child, Emily Norman Davidson, died of cancer at the age of 36. She was mother to Katie Rose, who was eight years old at the time. She was also a baroque violinist, one of the founding members of Pittsburgh-based Chatham Baroque. One friend called this an "impossible loss," a description that struck a deep chord. I found that I—a writer nearly all my life—was without words to try to understand an experience I could not—cannot—fathom. Then I found that poetry, which I had not attempted for over 40 years, worked for me better than my familiar medium—prose. Friends have told me that these poems touch the places they store their own grief and offer a measure of comfort.