#SOL16: What Grief Is

Rob Through a Portal (M.A. Reilly, Massachusetts, 2012)

I.

This is grief.

II.

You are driving and without warning a memory surfaces.
Usually it is a small, innocuous moment recalled.

The more ordinary the moment--the harsher the response.

And then you are screaming.

III.

Now I need you to understand it is not simply a loud cry.
No, not crying (even though you are doing that too).

This is a different animal you have found.
A very different animal.

IV.

You can hear yourself screaming, screaming, screaming, whimpering, whimpering and screaming more  and more and more
until the very breath in you stops,
halts that animal,
and you resettle, surprised
somehow to find your cheeks wet,
                                                      your mouth loose,
                                                      your car still moving,
everything still moving.