7 Years of Grief

It is not polite conversation to bring up death at weddings and dinner parties. So how do you authentically navigate soul-crushing, bone-crumbling, heart-wrenching, asphyxiating grief? You cannot alchemize what you are unwilling to face. So treat this poetry collection like a melancholic music playlist when you are in a place to feel all the feelings that come with someone you love dying. Leann writes through the lens of losing a child, but understands that grief is universal. While there is no "solution" to grief, being present is the way through it.

It is not polite conversation to bring up death at weddings and dinner parties. So how do you authentically navigate soul-crushing, bone-crumbling, heart-wrenching, asphyxiating grief? You cannot alchemize what you are unwilling to face. So treat this poetry collection like a melancholic music playlist when you are in a place to feel all the feelings that come with someone you love dying. It's written through the lens of losing a child, but with the understanding that fundamentally, grief is universal. While there is no "solution" to grief, being present is the way through and forward. In "7 Years of Grief," Leann Burch uncovers the truth of how grief actually helps us become more alive. Her writing weaves through the themes of mourning, anxiety, PTSD, asking for signs, numbing ourselves, gentle healing, and ultimately choosing to stay connected with life.

Leann Burch has two living children. Her oldest lives with quadriplegic cerebral palsy and her youngest was born two months after her middle son died from a relapsed cancer. She started writing a private blog during his extensive hospitalizations as a way to stay connected to the outside world. Writing and sketching became a way to process heartache and subsequently create the life she wants. Grief is a gift (one that she never asked for with a no return policy), and teacher. Say hi (if you are an introvert you can nod, wave, or give an air high-five) in Rockford, Illinois or chat on Instagram: @leannburch_writing.