title: Grief: A Mama's Unwanted Journey
author:  Shelley Ramsey 
description: <span>After my son died I read many books having to do with death and grief. I found very few that spoke to me powerfully andministered to me right where I was, in that storm-tossed sea of grief. Life on the mourning benchwas turbulent and ugly. At the height of my grief consoling wordswere of no comfortand encouragement to be strong, poor advice. I needed approval to be in my nightgown sobbing hystericallyat 3:00 in the afternoon, validation that forgetting appointments was to be expected, and confirmation that allowing Burger King to feed my family night after night was not the unpardonable sin. I needed space, time, and permission to grieve.</span>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Graphite Made It!
  
  rolled right out
  
  of the packaging
  
  and kissed her country’s
  
  toes.
  
  
  
  Graphite never read
  
  Langston Hughes,
  
  but knows: One should love
  
  one’s country, for one’s country is
  
  your mama.
  
  
  
  Graphite’s mama
  
  does not love her back,
  
  That’s against
  
  God Pat Pat rolls back up
  
  Graphite’s throat.
  
  
  
  Graphite has five kids,
  
  two of them died,
  
  became gravel
  
  underneath her tongue,
  
  
  
  Graphite forgets
  
  to take her insulin.
  
  Graphite has blood thick
  
  with everything
  
  she can’t remember.
  
  
  
  Graphite drinks the good brew
  
  and a soldier spills from her chest.
  
  She lets the old body drop
  
  quicksand through the bathroom
  
  floor.
  
  
  
  Graphite dies.
  
  goes back to the projects.
  
  She never wanted to leave.
  
  Graphite loves her country.
  
  
  
  Graphite knows her job,
  
  to be Black,
  
  and erasable.
  
  Graphite does it well.
  
  This eBook is licensed to kinsey moritz, kinseymoritz@gmail.com on 12/24/2020
  
  
  
  
  
  Auditioning for the Role  
  of Child with Teen Parent
  
  look, I know a Vice sp