This Week in Death: March 1, 2020
Text copied here from a Twitter thread.
1. The piece isn't online, but the on-newstands-now Winter 2020 issue of Herizons magazine features an interview of me by Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, where I discuss writing My Heart is a Rose Manhattan, grief, feminism, and women's anger.
Screenshot of issue index
2. Rad poet, friend and editor Elee Kraljii Gardiner’s Against Death anthology, recently into a second printing, will be down at AWP 2020 for those attending. As will Elee, continuing to resist death in living, fleshy glory. See the book and Elee's Trauma Head at the Anvil Press booth 1726 on the Thursday and Friday from 1-2 pm.
3. I'm stoked to have a piece in Catherine Owens' Locations of Grief anthology, alongside powerhouses like Jane Eaton Hamilton, Marilyn Dumont, Canisia Lubrin, Waubgeashig Rice, Alice Major, Richard Harrison, and my dear beloved Daniel Zomparelli. Watch for the national tour May 7-June 4. We’ll be launching at Owl’s Nest in Calgary on May 22.
4. I really appreciate the anthology as a space of conversation and inclusion, particularly for discussions of loss and trauma. The community held me up in so many ways after Chris died, a thousand gifts, actions and moments that I will never be able to repay in this lifetime.
5. One of the first things that happened, like the same or next day, was Jean Baird sending me a copy of The Heart Does Break, an anthology she co-edited with George Bowering. I would cling to those essays about stumbling around after loss in the months to come.
6. Particularly Hiromi Goto's piece about an ensuing nervous breakdown. Everyone thinks they can prevent the grief breakdown. You cannot prevent the grief breakdown. Respect the grief breakdown. Don't be like me and try to power through the grief breakdown.
7. Actually the very first message I received after news of Chris' death got out was an email from Jean that said "Be very gentle with yourself." Solid advice that I didn't always heed. Grief is exhausting and embodied, and the trauma weaves its way in to become the painbody.
“Be very gentle with yourself.”
8. I wrote the poem “National Day” (appears in My Heart is a Rose Manhattan) in a state of rage after being triggered one too many times by the utterly fake #SiblingsDay which seems to crop up 5x/year; the good people at Modern Loss have created a Siblings Day gift swap which you can sign up for through 3/3.
9. I've signed up! I'm ready! Siblings Day can suck it!
10. The Modern Loss anthology is a good read, by the way. The entire site is full of great writing and grief resources. My essay in the book, called "Deathday Birthday," chronicles the first 5 years of my own personal yearly 48 hours of hell.
11. Whereby Chris' death anniversary is followed the very next day by my own birthday. This year was, all told, not bad. There was a lovely gathering of his friends that brought the comfort of knowing that everyone else still misses him too. I spent most of the day in the bath.
12. Released two years ago, the Chris Reimer Hello People album is still finding its way to people. We'd love to sell out our run, if you're so inclined to share with people who love gentle ambient soundscapes. All sales to Chris Reimer Legacy Fund Society.
13. I'm always already ready to quit the business in despair, but I've been reinvigorated by taking part in a Warman School of Death workshop. The piece I wasn't sure about made everyone cry, so I guess I have to finish writing this GD WIP.
14. Thank you for reading This Week in Death.
