Author’s Note: “An Experience of Grief” is an effort to put down into words the wordless horror that is grief. The concept and the structure of the poem are inspired by a grounding technique that is popular as a coping mechanism for various mental health issues. This technique aims to ground one in space and time by using the senses to observe and reconnect to the physical world. By interrogating the feeling of grief in this manner and attaching physical sensations to it, it is my hope that the inexpressible has become slightly more expressible.
An Experience of Grief
Mourning feels like living
in the land of the polar night,
cold and eternally dark,
frozen and quiet.
It sounds like broken promises
clattering to the kitchen floor.
It smells like your mother’s
Sunday baking—
a distant memory.
It looks like a bruise,
jaundiced yellow and ringed
by bloody purple.
It tastes like bitter herbs,
cloying and sharp,
achy and strong.
You can dip down into
its hopeless waters,
but you wonder as you do so:
Will I ever come back?
⧫
Abigail Johnson is a recent graduate of Salisbury University. She is interested in many different forms of creative expression, including music, dance, theatre, and creative writing. In addition to poetry, her personal non-fiction has been published in The Delmarva Review. When not writing or onstage, she enjoys taking walks in nature and practicing yoga.
Delmarva Review publishes evocative new poetry and prose selected annually from thousands of submissions. Designed to encourage outstanding writing, it is an independent, nonprofit literary publication. Financial support comes from tax-deductible contributions, sales, and a grant from the Talbot County Arts Council with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. Website: DelmarvaReview.org.
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