The Healing Power of Creative Mourning: Poems

The poems in this collection deal with the universal themes of coping with illness, death, grief, loss, and bereavement. From the Preface by Fred Yager and Jan Yager: "...Creativity can help to fill the emotional void caused by a loss. It empowers you as you take that loss, whether it's because of terminal illness, death, or separation, and create something from it...But whether or not you write your own poetry, there is a cathartic benefit to reading the poems of others.They're also meant to entertain, like a good blues ballad, So sit back and enjoy the healing power of creative mourning." The collection also includes an epilogue on coping with grief, a selected bibliography, and a list of resources for information or direct help, including web site addresses. Topics explored in this original collection include: coping with a miscarriage, the illness and death of a father, death of a mother, grandfather, death during Vietnam War, dealing with holidays after a loved one has died, the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., and more.

Jan Yager is the author of more than a dozen books including VICTIMS, FRIENDSHIFTS, and UNTIMELY DEATH, a novel co-authored with her husband Fred Yager. She has a Ph.D. in sociology and did a year of graduate work in psychiatric art therapy. Fred Yager was a war correspondent for the Department of Defense and did an 18-month tour of duty in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.Afterwards, he worked as a reporter and entertainment writer for the Associated Press for 13 years. The author of numerous screenplays, he runs the global TV operations for an international financial services corporation. New Jersey poet and college teacher Priscilla Orr's two poems are excerpted from her collection, JUGGLERS AND TIDES (Hannacroix Creek Books, 1997). The late Seth Alan Barkas was a freelance film critic for Baltimore magazine and a freelance theatre critic for Show Business when he was tragically killed at the age of 23 from the wounds he received during a senseless, random street mugging. The poem included in this collection was written just a few months before he died. Scott Yager's poem, "When Grandpa Came Over," was written as a tribute to his grandfather and read at his grandfather's funeral.