Meghan O'Rourke
Meghan O'Rourke
Meghan O'Rourkeis an American nonfiction writer, poet and critic...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
CountryUnited States of America
fall hell seasons
Suddenly it was fall, the season of death, the anniversary of things-going-to-hell.
memories people pathways
The people we most love do become a physical part of us, ingrained in our synapses, in the pathways where memories are created.
grief transactions conditions
If the condition of grief is nearly universal, its transactions are exquisitely personal.
pain sibling grief
It's a blessing not to be alone in your grief but it's also painful to see your parents and siblings in pain.
loss lost-ones alive
One of the grubby truths about a loss is that you don't just mourn the dead person, you mourn the person you got to be when the lost one was alive. This loss might even be what affects you the most.
grief pieces demand
This is part of the complexity of grief: A piece of you recognizes it is an extreme state, an altered state, yet a large part of you is entirely subject to its demands.
grief feelings different
Grief is characterized much more by waves of feeling that lessen and reoccur, it's less like stages and more like different states of feeling.
grieving way research
There is no single way of grieving. But research suggests that there are some broad similarities among grievers.
ideas work-out trying
One of the ideas I've clung to most of my life is that if I just try hard enough it will work out.
goodbye ideas giving
A death from a long illness is very different from a sudden death. It gives you time to say goodbye and time to adjust to the idea that the beloved will not be with you anymore.
falling-in-love stories love-story
All love stories are tales of beginnings. When we talk about falling in love, we go to the beginning, to pinpoint the moment of freefall.
grief perspective sorrow
One of the things about grief is that it can bring a deeper perspective into your life; in the end, it has, for me, though it's also brought sorrow.
mother spring eye
I think about my mother every day. But usually the thoughts are fleeting - she crosses my mind like a spring cardinal that flies past the edge of your eye: startling, luminous, lovely... gone.
dog memories grief
Grief is a bad moon, a sleeper wave. It's like having an inner combatant, a saboteur who, at the slightest change in the sunlight, or at the first notes of a jingle for a dog food commercial, will flick the memory switch, bringing tears to your eyes.