Deborah Alecson Poetry Reading

Deborah Alecson's recent Poetry Reading in Great Barrington.

On December 20, 2014, Deborah Golden Alecson read from her recently published collection of poems entitled Complicated Grief  (Finishing Line Press, 2014).  These poems were generated out of her bereavement following her mother's suicide.  

The term "complicated grief" is used to describe a grieving process that goes outside the boundaries of normal grief.  This can be the result of the psychological state of the bereaved and/or the nature of the relationship with the deceased when he or she was alive and/or a death from suicide.  

What makes the grief complicated are the plethora of emotions that are not just errupting because of a single loss, but include a cascade of frightening feelings that come from a lack of resolution or comprehension.  

In Alecson's case, the complication came not only from the shock of the suicide, but from a history of abuse from her mother.  A manifestation of complicated grief can be an inability to concentrate that can then result in an inability to work.  In her experience, she had to take a few months leave of absence from teaching.  This time was necessary for her to integrate her loss; and one of her ways she did so, was to write these poems.