Recommended: The timely poetry of ‘Grief Age Love’

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, September 3, 2025

“Grief Age Love: Poems for the Autumn Years,” a new poetry collection that plumbs both the joys and sorrows of growing older, will be launched at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, in the atrium of Vashon Center for the Arts.

The book, edited by island writer Jeanie Okimoto, boasts the works of four Vashon poet laureates: Inaugural Poet Laureate Ann Spiers, Merna Ann Hecht, Sandra Noel and Margaret Roncone, who serves in the position currently.

It also includes the work of more than 30 other Vashon poets, many of whom will attend the event on Sept. 10 to read their works. The poetry of Okimoto’s brother, Roger Davies, is also included in the book.

In the book’s forward, Okimoto wrote that her brother turned 80 this year — a milestone she had reached in 2022.

“I’ve become aware that the quality of life as we age is often related to how well we can cope with loss,” she wrote. “Obviously, in this stage of life it can be the death of loved ones; but also, the loss of who we ourselves once were physically, and sometimes in varying degrees, mentally … We have front row seats to mortality, making it even more poignant that “someday” is today. Close friends and loved ones often say we are walking each other home. Along this walk, I thought, who better to hear from than the poets?”

The book, published by Endicott and Hugh Books, will be offered for sale at the event for $20, with proceeds donated to the Vashon Senior Center.

Find out more at endicottandhughbooks.com.

From “Grief Age Love: Poems for the Autumn Years”

In This Goodbye

Breathe your essence

that you may stay with me

in this goodbye.

Tomorrow I will dip bread in honey

fill the blue cup with coffee

Sticker bushes will marry the view

the future will have its scheduled

appointment of me without you.

— by Carey Hunter Davis