The Alchemy of Grief

By Emily Ferrara

Book Overview

This is excellently controlled craftsmanship, conveying deeply felt emotion.The grief of loss is sharply poignant and real, yet never maudlin or self-indulgent. The music of the lines is subtle and fine. The tension between the controlled craft and the poignancy of the theme makes the reader participate in the poems and feel with the poet, sharing the human despair and transcendent emotions that bring us through to survival. - Daniela Gioseffi 2006 Bordighera Prize contest judge In her exquisite first collection of poems, Emily Ferrara reveals the unexpected power of regeneration at the core of a grieving mother's heart. From the initial hot coals of loss to her final vision of God's force, these poems take us on a journey of transformation. Catalyzed by nature, faith, family and friendship, written in a voice that is stunning and direct, Ferrara weaves her magic with the language of poetry. These poems convince me, that in Ferrara's skilled hands, we truly have a poetry of healing. - Richard M. Berlin True to its title, The Alchemy of Grief is a book of mystical transformations. The leaden weight of unthinkable loss is transmuted into the precious quicksilver of remembrance and survival, while the plainsong of Anglo-Saxon is translated into operatic Italian. Emily Ferrara thus shows us all that it means to be a healer: giver of life, lover despite death, and speaker of the truth that between these we can measure only the slightest difference, which is infinite beauty. - Rafael Campo

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1884419895
• ISBN13: 9781884419898
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: Bordighera Press
• Length: 95 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A stunningly real look at pain and healing

This book of poems, about the author's struggle to come to terms with her grief, burned through my heart. The imagery is nakedly beautiful and harsh, at once. Reading through the selections, I felt the full range of emotions, the ransacked life of one left behind, the achingly slow progress toward regaining that life again, the surprise to find there can still be life after such agony. The craft and artistry of these works is beyond real; its words and visions are gratingly alive in the face of death itself. For anyone who has lost a child, for anyone who has felt the depths, this is a precious and priceless piece of work -- raw, relentless, passionate, full. Thank you, Emily Ferrara.