The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing

What a wonderful condolence gift this book would be. These poems should be shared at funerals and wakes or read privately through the months of heartache. Poetry lovers will want this book on their home shelf to enjoy again and again. Kevin Young’s Book of Hours showed the world his gift for putting eulogy and grief on paper, and he used that insight in editing this collection. At the best funerals, we remember our loved ones with both tears and laughter, and these poems contain that wholeness of being human. Too many anthologies go back to the same old, same old, dead, white male poets and poems that are dense with dated language. Young chose to focus on more accessible, more relevant, and more modern poems. With only a few exceptions, he pulled together twentieth and twenty-first century poems. For once, women and minority writers are well represented. There’s something everyone can relate to. Many of my favorite poems are here: “Otherwise” and “Let Evening Come” by Jane Kenyon, “Funeral Blues” by W. H. Auden, “Wild Geese” and by Mary Oliver, “Mourners” by Ted Kooser, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, and for a smile, “The Dead” by Billy Collins. With nearly 300 pages of poetry, Young was able to cover an incredible range. You’re sure to meet some authors you don’t know well. There’s also a convenient index by subject to help those searching for a single-poem to read at a service or send to a friend.

This book is very good & helpful

I bought this book for a niece who lost her mother last week, after having lost her father 15 years ago. She's only 23 years old, too young to have lost both parents. My own grief at this loss made me remember all the other family members and friends who've passed, each death different from the rest but no less painful as we age. Even though I've read many books on grieving I decided to see if there was a book of poetry for these events which deeply mark our lives. I was pleased to see the fine poetry that's been collected in this book. So I ordered another copy of this book to keep since death is inevitable, and life so full that we need poetry to help move the sadness as time goes on.

I wanted to read this collection of poems after hearing the author on a NPR broadcast. He was sincere without being sentimental, His thoughts went directly to the feelings you feel and can't express.I suffered the loss of a loved one and it's hard enough to deal with your emotions and then try to convey to those near you what you are thinking and feeling. It's enormous. This book carefully and sensitively puts into words what many of us need to release as we struggle through this common experience.

From Emily Dickinson, Frost and Auden to contemporary poets such as Mary Jo Bang, Albert Goldbarth, Galway Kinnell, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Kevin Young, who also edited this anthology, the reader will find poets who address grief in all its nuances and forms in contemporary elegies. Poetry helps us cope and this is the book I keep close always and refer to often. A hauntingly beautiful collection.

I read this book of poetry following the tragic loss of my son. I highlighted and bookmarked twenty or more poems that moved me. Many poems I had to read three or more times to really let the concepts sink in. None of the poems are trite or simplistic, and none would be suitable for quoting in cursive and plastering on memes. They are deep and genuinely moving, but take time and focus to understand.

My mom died suddenly of heart failure. A couple of these poems still sooth my grief today (3 years later). Living without your mom is heart wrenching, and everyone needs some help when facing a giant loss of this nature. If you are looking for something to help fill that gaping hole left behind from grief's unrelenting waves of sadness, give this book a try.

I bought this two days after my dad passed unexpectedly. The organization of the poems by type of loss was especially helpful. It helped ease my pain by showing me that others had suffered loss and survived. I especially love Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese. Thank you for creating such a beautiful anthology for people in mourning.

Bought it for a gift for someone who'd lost their father. A really good companion to have in times of losing and loss.

This is the book I've been searching for, for some time. The poems are thoughtful and nuanced, and many of them are comforting in the insight they bring to experiences of grief and loss.

I love this book it has put to bed my own poetry learning experience for time being and made me fall in love again with poetry. Will and would buy more.

this is a wonderful book for those a whatever stage of grief they are ..

Very deep and thought provoking. Too heavy for my taste.