Reflections on Loss – October 14, 2019 Weekly
Humans continually suffer loss throughout their lives, whether the loss of senses like sight, loss of faith, or loss of loved ones. And as with elephants, we often find it difficult to forget. So we learn ways to reapply our happy facades and move forward. Sometimes, that involves digging in to poignant memories, or ripping a deeper meaning from the guts of our loss. Or it might require us to reach out and just sway, for a moment, amid the music of life.
"Blueberry Waffles & A Side of Poignancy" by Neel Trivedi
For the past six years, Chip had been making his dad, Grant’s favorite breakfast of blueberry waffles for him every Sunday. This “ritual” seemed to bring the biggest smile on his dad’s face all weekend long no matter what they did together before or afterward.
"All Poets Have an Alpha & Omega Poem: Here’s Mine" by John Dorroh
This mess with fish – all the praying and scraping and scaling
and displaying – has seriously complicated the trip. Jesus made it
so easy: here’s my gift, take, eat; repent of your sins and be
on your way.
"IVF" by Anuja Ghimire
“They say there’s something in the water,” said the woman. She talked over the hot storm. “Practically every woman in the church is pregnant. Sharon’s friend from work, right? Rita, her sister-in-law.”
“Nice to meet you,” Agnes lied. Her hand held the emptiness of her body instead of extending to the stranger’s pink hands.
"My Grandpa Knew Mr. Parkinson" by Bojana Stojcic
“Let me help you, Grandfather,” said a voice to the old man as he stumbled walking away from the table. Grandpa nodded back, put on his hat he wore with style and, with a profound mistrust of anything new, left the room, unsure about where they had met.
“Even elephants forget,” Grandpa joked.
"At Elephants World, near Kanchanaburi" by Randel McCraw Helms
Her friend Romsai, partially blind, prefers Bach.
The architectural simplicities
Of the Twenty-Fifth Goldberg move him
To a rhythmical trance every god would envy.
While Barton plays, rapt Romsai sways
In a sarabande of elephantine joy.