Poetry and prose have helped me process the shocking, gut-wrenching loss of a precious, unique, complicated person: my brother.

Steven Thomas Harvell left us too soon. But his imprint is indelible, as you’ll know from this ragged, jagged little poem. A decade without him. A lifetime to go.

Talk of poems and prayers and promises and things that we believe in;
How sweet it is to love someone, how right it is to care;
How long it’s been since yesterday and what about tomorrow?
What about our dreams and all the memories we share?

Along with my Sister-in-Love, we are grieving the loss of Jimmy Edington.

A poem dedicated to my brother, a victim of suicide, who suffered in silence. Call the suicide prevention hotline at 800-273-8255.

My lost loved ones were in this sky, whispering a gossamer goodbye.

Glover Gardens’ first guest blogger shares memories of his grandmother with a beautiful translation of Still by Jupiter Jones.

I wrote the haiku below a couple of years ago, after visiting Notre Dame on a business trip just a few weeks after my Dad died. Like so many people all around the world, I’m heartbroken about today’s fire that so badly damaged this beloved…

A vignette in the produce section inspired a poem about dads and daughters.

For people like me, there’s a sense of loss from the abrupt ending of Anthony Bourdain’s huge contribution to the canons of travel, food and cultural understanding, and a reluctant but absolutely unavoidable comparison to our own unwelcome experiences with the savage, raw, rollercoaster aftermath of suicide.

Thanksgiving weekend, eight of us family members spanning three generations packed into my Honda Pilot and headed down to the Bolivar Peninsula where I grew up.  We were on a mission to visit Dad’s favorite restaurant down there, and remember him. It was a perfect…

a haiku about love and death

Labor Day weekend of 2000 was the last time I saw my Mom; we shared cherries and empathy at the beach house on the Bolivar Peninsula.

A gift of a live and blooming hibiscus, with a heartfelt haiku to celebrate Dad’s life.

A Modern Requiem, a new tune from jazz composer Thomas Wenglinski. It’s lovely, and dedicated to his late grandfather, Frank Harvell.

a free verse remembrance for an amazing man

My uncle Nathan, my mother’s brother, would have been 70 this month. He was only 40 when he died in 1988. Sad and shocked, I wrote this poem for my Mom at the time and it was part of his memorial service.  Just today, I…

Reblog of the Thrive Global article about the grieving process by Katherine Schafler, NYC-based psychotherapist, writer and speaker.

an open window, the soul outlasts the body: eternal spirit This single open window at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris inspired my haiku.  It is a very peaceful and comforting place.  Dad is not gone, just in a different form. Travel is so illuminating…

When you lose someone you love, you go through changes that you cannot control. Some part of you goes away for a while, trying to process it.  Some other part tries to maintain the status quo, to “be strong”.  You hold some of yourself in…