Voices of the Grieving Heart

by Mike Bernhardt (Editor)

Overview

When Mike Bernhardt's wife died, he turned to writing poetry as a tool of healing. He later solicited the poetry of other people whose loved ones had died, receiving hundreds of submissions from around the world. The result was Voices of the Grieving Heart, first published in 1994. More than just an anthology, it is a companion on the darkest road many of us will ever have to travel: grieving the death of someone we loved.

This new, expanded edition contains over 160 selected poems, essays, and images by 83 contributors who share their journeys through loss, grief, and transformation, including:

• Deaths due to suicide, miscarriage, COVID-19, and other causes
• Reflections on grief, 30 years later, from first-edition contributors
• Prompts and blank pages for readers to add their own poetry

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780964281011
Publisher:	Cypress Point Press
Publication date:	04/05/2021
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	460,664
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Mike Bernhardt is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in many print and online publications. He grew up in New York City, where he wrote poetry and kept a journal throughout his teenage years. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when he was nineteen and was working as an electrician when he met his first wife, Susan, in 1983.

In the years after Susan's death in 1991, Mike published the first edition of Voices of the Grieving Heart, met and married his second wife, Yvonne, and began a career in information technology. He retired in 2016 and began writing again. Mike and Yvonne raised a son and still reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, where they currently live with their two cats.

Table of Contents

Front Matter

An Important Note to the Reader

Acknowledgments

Preface to the Second Edition

Foreword by John Fox

Body

Voices (invocation)

Introduction

Someone Died Today

The Raging Storm

Pandemic

But You Elude Me

The Garden of Dreams

Begin to Heal

The Breath of Great Spirit

Time Passes

Courage to Write

Back Matter

Artwork Credits

About the Contributors

About John Fox

About Mike Bernhardt

Editorial Reviews

"A complex and relatable set of works about the depths of loss. It's an excellent anthology for anyone in the throes of similar emotions."

Kirkus Reviews

"Each poem is a perfect mirror, an encouragement to heal. This is the poetry of our joy and exhaustion, living and dying with the consequences of love. This is our voice when our heart is broken.

Stephen Levine, Author of Who Dies?

"Voices of the Grieving Heart, carefully curated by Mike Bernhardt, is a profoundly compassionate friend of a book - listening, gently responding, sharing the heavy load of sorrow, letting anyone of any age living through any sorrow know, they are not alone. We will never be alone."

Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People's Poet Laureate, Poetry Foundation

"Grief shatters our hearts. These poems vividly convey the compassion and the courage that can bear this brokenness. Let their tender strength heal you."

Dale Borglum, Executive Director, Living/Dying Project

"In forty-five years of providing support and intervention to grieving individuals, families, responders and the community, I have found that the voice of poetry more accurately describes the nuance and depth of the grief journey than volumes of text. Mike Bernhardt, out of his own experience, has gathered these seeds of honest pain and redemptive beauty. Voices of the Grieving Heart will heal and open your poetic voice to the true gift."

Janet Childs, Founder and former Director, Centre for Living with Dying

"Poetry is the song of the soul. Voices of the Grieving Heart captures these soul songs and collects them into a poignant, comforting, and healing volume for those suffering from the loss of a loved one. I was immediately drawn in and am richer for the reading. You will be too."

Gary Roe, Award-winning author, speaker, and grief specialist

This beautiful book speaks directly to the heart with moving and powerful poetry from people who generously share their journeys of love, loss, healing, and hope."

Debbie Augenthaler, LMHC, NCC, Author of You Are Not Alone: A Heartfelt Guide for Grieving, Healing, and Hope

From the Publisher