Remembering Those We Have Lost

 

As we take time today to honor those we lost on September 11, 2001, I have been thinking about how grief affects everyone in a different way. And as a writer, I naturally turn to my writing to help me work through my grief.

 

In an article I wrote on Medium called “Writing to Remember,” I talk about how I have written songs and poems to remember those we have lost. I have written poems in memory of people I did not even know.

 

It’s not just poems and songs I have written in memory of people who have passed away, though. Sometime after my mother passed away, I was inspired to write a children’s book called Wolf Whispers. In this story, a young character loses her mother, and she discovers a wolf who comforts her during her time of grief.

 

I also wrote a collection of poems about grief. The book is called Poems for the Grieving Heart and all of the poems are written objectively because they are meant for the person experiencing grief. These poems are meant to provide comfort and the book was dedicated to my aunt and uncle, who lost their son in a car accident.

 

As far as poems remembering those I knew who have passed away, I am also writing another collection of poetry with these kinds of poems. However, this collection also contains poems written in memory of people lost who I did not know. (It is still a work in progress.)

 

As far as 9/11 goes, I did write a poem in memory of the lives lost that day. The poem is called “They Were Our Neighbors” and it was read at a ceremony in New York when a bench was dedicated to the memory of those lost. You can read more about what other kind of influence this poem had on a reader here.

 

If you feel compelled to write something after experiencing loss, then take the time to put to use your talent with words in a way that helps you with your grief. Some people even find comfort in writing in a journal after they have lost a loved one.

 

Grief has a very strong effect on people, but for writers, we may feel compelled to write something to honor someone who passed away. Or we write it in their memory or as a tribute to them. (I have read some very beautiful tributes written for lost loved ones on Facebook.) Writing through our grief can be very therapeutic and help us to cope with the pain of loss. Sometimes it can be hard to share with others the pain we are feeling because of grief, but when we turn to our writing, we end up finding the right words to say.