Sorry, We No Longer Offer Bereavement Fares

Sorry, We No Longer Offer Bereavement Fares records the intensity and absurdity of enduring grief after the death of a brother. As darkly humorous as they are deeply felt, these poems aim their anger at Southwest Airlines, their suffering toward Pema Chödrön and Mary Oliver, and scorn in the direction of Randall Jarell and a problematic cat. Grief is unpredictable and wild, creating an urge to retreat from and lash out at a world that insists on going on; yet the fever-pitch cannot last forever. In this concise collection, Van Prooyen's poems navigate ferocity and futility brought on by deep sorrow but turn and return to memory as a balm; the sting of loss simmers down, and the ache of missing reverberates like the greatest scream in the history of Rock & Roll.