Poems from the Valley: Walking through Grief

During my November 7th to 12th 2026 visit to see my Mom and Dad, Dad and I drove around Tallahassee enjoying some of his favorite restaurants, visiting beloved relatives in Chattahoochee, FL, and checking on his pond house in Marianna. We also spent time driving by the Capital to see where our Great, Great Grandfather Philbrick practiced medicine, where our other Great, Great Grandfather W. W. Childers founded the First Baptist Church of Tallahassee, and visiting the downtown cemetery to see if any of our ancestors were laid to rest there. Little did I know that that next week my father would draw his final breath, and that his spirit would “return to God who gave it.” This is a collection of poems, some that I wrote after his stroke in July 2022, some as I sat next to him in November 2026, and some that I wrote as I walked through the grief of his temporal loss.