The Bed the Size of a Small Country

By Lois Marie Harrod

Lois Marie Harrod's The Bed the Size of a Small Country is an insightful examination of love and grief following the death of her husband. Some poems, such as "After Your Ashes," are heartbreaking in their searing declaration of loss, while others, such as "What's Left," offer tender humor: "Sometimes I think those cargo pants of yours / must now be walking around Trenton or Jersey City / on another short little bald man, a bit overweight / like you ..." These poems, which explore the vast emotional and physical landscape of her 57-year marriage, lead us to a deeper appreciation of our own lives and the ones we love.

-Edwin Romond, author, The Man at the Railing

In this moving collection, Lois Marie Harrod navigates the uncertain geography of loss and loneliness as a recent widow, whether she finds herself adrift in the oversized bed of the title or filling an empty house, previously shared for half a century, with funereal flowers. Beneath the ever-present grief, the aching dialogue with "my not-here thou, " her wry humor remains intact, her heart still unfolding its mysteries, "this crazy stick pick licking / life, life, life / sudden whip-flip / in the middle of sadness."

-Winifred Hughes, author, The Village of New Ghosts

In this luminous collection, grief is both intimate and expansive, a presence that lingers like "a cold cold star" and whispers in "an extinct language." Through deft lyricism and unflinching honesty, Lois Marie Harrod navigates love and loss, where even the ordinary - a pair of cargo pants, a coffee cup, a grandfather's chair - becomes a vessel for memory.

"What am I doing here at the edge of this wide land, sheeting beyond me, hills like overstuffed pillows guarding the north border, or is it west?"

In these lines and throughout The Bed the Size of a Small Country, the speaker is unmoored by her husband's death. These poems do not seek easy solace but instead reckon with the weight of loss, the persistence of love, and the strange alchemy of remembrance.

-Emari DiGiorgio, author, Girl Torpedo

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1639807799
• ISBN13: 9781639807796
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Kelsay Books
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"