from the lending library

C. A. Reiser, M.S.

The WiSSP lending library features over one hundred different resources for bereaved families and the professionals who care for them. It contains many different types of writings that may be helpful to a bereaved parent, from autobiographical accounts, and spiritual literature, as reviewed in previous WiSSPers issues, to resources that may be usefully shared with surviving children. Some parents may find particular solace in poetry and prose, and it is these resources that will be offered here.

Moffat, Mary Jane (ed.), In the Midst of Winter: Selections from the Literature of Mourning. Vintage Books (Random House), New York, 1982.

The editor has included here poems, letters, diary entries, etc. from the great literature of the world (writers represented include Robert Frost, Marcel Proust, Mark Twain, Shakespeare) as well as the work of lesser known authors, of all ages, times and geographic regions. The title is taken from Albert Camus: "In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." The passages flow through the process and progress of mourning, from the first days through, as the last section is called, "Time and Acquiescence."

While the book includes a section on the death of a child, none of the writings pertains specifically to stillbirth or infant death.

Fritsch, Julie and Sherokee Ilse, The Anguish of Loss. Wintergreen Press, Long Lake, Minnesota, 1988.

Grief and mourning can be expressed in many different ways. The Anguish of Loss is a photographic journal of sculptor Julie Fritsch’ figures in clay, expressing her bereavement following the stillbirth of her son, Justin.

These deeply moving pictures with accompanying text chronicle the passage of a mother, alone and as part of a couple, through time to forever — where "we will hold in our hearts that special part of us that is our son. Together we will share and remember, forever."

Cohen, Marion, She Was Born, She Died. Centering Corporation, Omaha, Nebraska 68103, 1983.

Ms. Cohen wrote the poems collected in She Was Born, She Died following the death of her daughter Kerin shortly after birth. In these deeply personal poems, the reader travels with Ms. Cohen through "Intensive Care", "Funeral" and "Bereavement" to "Trying to Conceive Again".

As with her other writings (An Ambitious Sort of Grief, reviewed in WiSSPers, Vol 2, No. 2), these poems are a gut wrenching account of real events that happened to real people.

Cohen, Marion Deutsche (collected by), The Limits of Miracles — Poems about the Loss of Babies. Bergin and Garvey Publishers, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 1985.

The poems collected here are unified by the theme of loss of a baby. While the other resources reviewed tend to chronicle the journey we call grief, there is no similar organization imposed on these writings. Perhaps this unique aspect of Ms. Deutsche Cohen’s anthology is also what recommends it — there are poems here to fit almost every situation and experience. Titles include "Christopher on the Ultrasound", "Trisomy 21", "Stillbirth", "Placenta Previa", "Premature Baby" and "Abortion", among many others.

Erling, Susan, A Rainbow After the Storm. Published by Susan Erling, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1984.

Through her poetry Ms. Erling tells the story of the stillbirth of her son Jesse in 1981 and its impact on her family (including surviving children), through to the premature birth and homecoming of twins from a subsequent pregnancy two years later. Though a short collection, with these poems a lifetime is shared, encompassing birth and death, joy and sadness, and acceptance, anticipation and hope.

Grieving, Healing and Growing. The Compassionate Friends, Inc., Oakbrook, Illinois, 1983.

The credo of the Compassionate Friends contains the statement "We need not walk alone." With that sentiment this collection of writings by bereaved parents and bereavement professionals is dedicated to "all children who have died, their parents, families and friends."

The prose, poetry, and other selections included here cover a broad range of topics that help structure this book, including A Father’s Grief, A Grandparent’s Grief, Holidays, ending with a section called "There Is A Place We Call Memory." Particularly poignant are the included texts by siblings.