My very good friend once told me that "coincidence" is God's way of being anonymous. Then, perhaps it was no coincidence when Fred and Alayne Stassen invited me over for supper. While standing in the dining room my eyes were drawn to a black and white nude photograph on the wall. I stepped closer and instantly a connection clearly spoke to me. The essence of that photograph had poignantly captured and distilled a moment from my own past grief experience. If I had experienced the power of that one image perhaps other women would also. Subsequently, three voices came together to create this book. The first voice is Fred Stassen's photographic perspective which combines art and skill in creating powerful images and moods. Nude photography is a delicate art. When done effectively, it invites the viewer to be more than an observer of beauty and sensuality. Rather, it provides a medium for expression of human experience... The second voice is drawing on my own grief experiences and those of people I have known to write the verse. My losses include divorce, my children growing up and leaving, parental illness, career shifts, and growing older. Professionally, I've shared the sorrow of many individuals and families through hospice nursing. The final voice became evident as I thought about the photographs in the context of a grieving process. Grief has the potential to be a transformative process which fits with John Schneider's grief model. At critical points in our grief we are clothed in a stronger presence of being. Transformed, if you will, into a wiser and quite different individual than who we were. A final thought. Grief is a common thread that connects us all to¬gether. Perhaps through the words and images in this book there will be opportunities to know that grief has the potential to be foe and friend - something viewed from a distance and felt from within. - Sharon Olson

Into the light--: For women experiencing the transformative nature of grief

Olson, Sharon

Book order/reorder, S. Olson

Poetry. In THE LONG NIGHT OF FLYING, Sharon Olson's engaging first collection, the reader is taken on a journey into a world of vulnerability, incipience, and mystery. There is a textured richness in the poet's tenaciously precise take on the world around us, whether its subject matter is the theft of a Vermeer, an indictment of the brutalities of war, or the loss of the poet's brother in the crash of a small plane. "Awash as we are in so much self-regard with its own closed world and banal speech, it's bracing, it's heartening to enter this gathering of true poems"--John Felstiner. "Read Sharon Olson's poems aloud to someone you love. Passionate, finely nuanced, and precise, these poems' surprising turns take you somewhere new"--Frances Mayes.

THE LONG NIGHT OF FLYING

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Sixteen Rivers Press

There is nothing more startling than the moment it becomes clear that an aging loved one can no longer live alone or with their partner without assistance This book is written with humor and compassion along with some very practical advice for those confronted with the trials and joys of everyday life with aging parents This book is not laundry list of resources It is a poignant and inspiring story of a sweet little mom and her 50 something daughter who struggled to understand the shocking realization of the mom s diminished ability to deal with everyday life It gives the reader the inside scoop on assisted living with stories that are funny frightening heartbreaking and hopeful all at the same time You will laugh and you will cry as you come to understand why she chose to call their story My mother is not a geranium

My Mother Is Not a Geranium

Parenting & Relationships

Xlibris

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Books by Olson, Sharon