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Carrie Etter for Grief’s Alphabet, a Topping & Co Event
18 April @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Grief’s Alphabet by Carrie Etter is a shattering elegy for the poet’s mother, opening a pathway through grief in spite of the impossible task of expressing such a loss. Beginning both chronologically and alphabetically, the collection moves from early life with the narrator’s adoption, through to the mother’s unexpected death and the banal yet painful tasks which follow, such as sorting clothes and arranging the funeral. The final section deals with life after loss, and the long work of grieving which culminates in the title poem. Evoking the complex, intimate relationship between mother and daughter, this raw yet deft collection celebrates love in the same breath as it weeps for its loss.
American expatriate and Bath resident Carrie Etter has previously published four collections of poetry. Her individual poems have appeared in The Guardian, The New Republic, The New Statesman, The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem, and The Times Literary Supplement. After 18 years teaching at Bath Spa University, in 2022 she joined the creative writing faculty at the University of Bristol. She also publishes short fiction, essays, and reviews.
