One of the reasons that constitute why I decided to publish THE RIGHT TO MOURN is that I didn't know what to say to a friend, as comfort, who had lost his father. I didn't know what to say, let alone how to even say the very thing I was to say. An awkward and less desirable moment would occur based on that.
By then, I was loosely writing poems and random notes about what was happening; my father being sick; how I was dealing with it; and my preparedness should I lose him. I did not want to lose him, but I did. And so, with the poems grouped and put in order, a manuscript I formulated and emailed it to him. His response: "I know of others who could use with this. Thank you."
And so I endeavoured to write more and send to close friends, especially those who had lost loved ones within their immediate families. The response was more or less the same – the majority of my friends also knew others who needed to read and hear what I had to say about my own process. In the end, though THE RIGHT TO MOURN was me and my own process, it in turn came to be about mourning and loss of a loved one, your process included. I know how sometimes the short poems in this anthology can be confrontational, especially if you thought you had dealt with the particular loss.
THE RIGHT TO MOURN was never written to suppose a never-ending process of mourning, but it was intended to let you know that it's ok to mourn, and by mourning, healing is realised and arrived at; that by the token of mourning, it hurts less when you think about the one who's lost; that ultimately, their lives can be celebrated, this, without remorse or unending pain.
Mourn. Be healed.
