Septmeber in Grief
By Elizabeth J. Phillips

I challenge the beginning
to dispute
or perhaps I am merely angry
at the power of loss
and its validity

I challenge the ending
to reflect
yet perhaps I am merely desperate
by the dreams that
haunt my waking

I've turned around
and you're gone.

I cringe still at the ending
how it hurts
to the marrow
and haunts to the stone
that has grown in my soul.

Author's Note: I am particularly moved by the focus of your site on grief and healing for those who have lost children. These poems were born from great sorrow at the loss of my twin youth group students, Kim & Kathy S. They were seventeen. I held their hands as they died this summer from injuries sustained in a tragic car accident. I braided their hair after they were gone and wept with their heartbroken parents. I will be forever impacted by their lives and their loss.

Editor's Reply: My very heart to Kim & Kathy's family and my many thanks to you, Elizabeth, for sharing these works with us at KotaPress.

Elizabeth J. Phillips lives, writes, and works with youth in the Southern Ohio. She has three chapbooks; the third, "Growing Peace," was awarded first place in the Geneva College Art Show for mixed media. She is currently working on her fourth work, "Book of Our Beginnings" from which these two poems are taken. She is also the editor for the Lanacaster Vineyard Arts Magazine.