A kiln for wounds
A poem on the grief of losing someone with similar wounds and leaving the kiln open for for comfort.
Author: Gretchen Filart
Gretchen is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and essayist from the Philippines, where she embraces life while managing bipolar disorder and ADHD. Her confessional pieces unpack the complexities of grief, healing, motherhood, love, and intersections, garnering recognition from the Greg Grummer Poetry Contest and Navigator's Travel Writing Competition.
A lesson from beetles
A lesson on life and love from scarab beetles – salagubang in Filipino – found while passing through a McDonald’s drive-thru.
Look up
Healing is not linear. Sometimes you inch two steps forward, the next you feel you’re a step backward. Doesn’t mean you’re not progressing.
I wanted a boy for a kid, but had a daughter
When I was pregnant, I prayed for a boy. Men enjoy more privileges. I want a piece of the pie for my kid. Then, I gave birth to a daughter.
From nature: Lessons in grief
A few things I learned about grieving by being in nature.
Dear Ron
I love you the way you opened your apartment to a stranger: with faith despite…
Hiking Camp John Hay Eco Trail for Healing
How for the grieving, a lone hike in a forest while grieving can make grief feel so small – and turn a walk into a sort of redemption.
Getting lost, veering away.
Sometimes we aimlessly getting lost on the road to find a way home, after losing a love, a safe space, a home.
After separation
A poem on remembering the good after separating from someone.
When it rains, we write
Grief is complex. There are plenty of good, productive days. But once in a while, there are terrible days when immense sadness consumes every filament that the whys seem never ending.
Love in the midst of sorrow
How warm, enchanting & life-affirming the gift of love is, in whatever form it is. Yes, even those that have moved on to a different season.
On hard days
A reflection on making the hard decision to cultivate self-compassion and self-care during difficult days.
Shifts
Happiness is hard-won. Much as I live for carefree Boho days and hate long-term planning, I also don’t strive for short-lived highs.
Surrender to Self
May and June had me feeling like a lump of clay – slammed,…
Dusting off
Two weeks – that’s how long it took recovery to this extent, when…
Remembrance
Eyelids flittering, I hand-searched for my phone against the dark. 3:45 am, the…