by daithi’
Imagine that you are sculling down the River Styx with James Crews, the coxswain, who is setting the rhythm and view as we move past our loved ones strewn along the bank. Four other poets are placed strategically throughout the boat. Each and every one of them have losses to lament, while also keening through life above ground. Such is my way of visualizing the experience of attending 4 Friday afternoon sessions with James Crews, along with weekly guest poets, George Bilgere, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, January Gill O’Neil, and Naomi Shihab Nye. The workshop was entitled “Turning Toward Grief” and contained excerpts from Crews’ recently published book by that same name (Broadleaf Books, 2025) The subtitle was “a 4-week Poetry Retreat” that was offered on-line for four Fridays in a row.
George Bilgere, who hails from Ohio, read us moving poems of his. He shared that he had 3 pivotal points in his life from which he drew both sustenance and grief: the loss of his father, who had a drinking problem, his parent’s divorce, and his relocation to California in his youth. I was partial to his poem, “Laundry.”
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lost a son and turned to poetry to feel and understand her loss. She told us that grief holds two parts within it: of the person gone and of our special relationship to grief itself. Begin with her poem, “With Astonishing Tenderness,” and search out other poems that she has skillfully composed.
January Gill O’Neil explored the death of Emmett Till through the eyes of his mother, after thoroughly researching that tragic racist episode in American history. Her poem “At the Rededication of the Emmett Till Memorial” won a 2022 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award. On a more personal level–when she and her husband divorced, she wrote “In the Company of Women.”
Naomi Shihab Nye has spent 40 years writing and leading workshops to embrace our shared humanity. Before most of us knew about Gaza, she grieved her father’s unexpected and perpetual loss of his homeland. You might want to read her poem, “Healing.” There are so many of hers available for viewing.
James Crews is intimate with death: his father died when James was only twenty. From his recently published book, I would suggest “Wound.” Each of his poems is either followed by reflective writing, surrounding grief and how to live with it.
Needless to say, all of the participants–including myself–learned much, and delved deeply into our own losses. And we shared one poem each that had been written during the four weeks. For many, it was a profound experience. One that they will carry forward.
I have no idea whether James will offer the workshop another time. If he does–and you missed the first one–I would book the tour!