In this broad yet deeply intimate collection, Ronnie Brenner was often "awakened in the wee hours" during the course of her husband's dying to pen the thoroughly affecting poems in this book. But The Poems That Grief Wrote is not wholly centered on lament; it is peppered with themes that are genuinely comical as well as poignant: a farcical hunt for anti-cancer foods; a grandmother's double bind relative to eating; delight in unshaven legs; the unfailing jubilance of a three-year-old granddaughter, among others.

In equal measure profound, perceptive, and evoking both tears and laughter, the now 80-year-old author touches on a variety of topics that not only spark thoughtful interpretation, but provoke contemplation of how we interact with other sentient beings, how we deal with wounding and loss, and how humor can reside in both the devastating and the absurd.