In his latest book of poems, Greg Watson takes on the journey of grieving the loss of his partner of over ten years.
The Shape of Your Absence is arranged in three distinct sections (titled Body, Breath, and Sky), wherein Watson talks about memories of travel and daily life together, the shock of loss, and the continuation of life after. "During the process of writing the book, the absence itself did start to feel like a presence, almost like an entity in these poems," says Watson. "This is one of the unfortunate things that we have in common in this life... losing people that we care about."
The poems wind their way through the process of grief, including all of the traditionally noted stages. Watson states that he went through all of the stages, but it didn't stop with 'acceptance'. "I found that there was one more stage after that, which was gratitude," says the author. "That was sort of the ah-ha moment."
The Shape of Your Absence is available online and through One Subject Press.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
