Iona Winter

Tag: grief

• Anthology Aotearoa creative writing Elixir & Star Press grief loss love New Zealand Literature

  Q&A with Elixir & Star Press (aka me)

  I’ve had a few people ask, ‘Where did the name Elixir & Star Press come from?’ ‘Elixir’ was Reuben’s 2015 Totems album, and ‘Star’ was his first word.  The other question has been, ‘How come you’re doing this?’ After researching (a lot) about grief whilst writing A Counter of Moons, I…

  January 17, 2023
• Anthology Aotearoa Elixir & Star Press grief New Zealand publisher

  Elixir & Star Press is launched today!

  Introducing Elixir & Star Press ~ a small, independent publisher based in Te Wai Pounamu, created in memory of my tama Reuben Winter, and as a dedicated space to explore grief in Aotearoa New Zealand.  After researching (a lot) about grief whilst writing A Counter of Moons, I quickly noticed the dearth…

  January 11, 2023
• Aotearoa creative writing grief loss love mental health New Zealand poetry suicide suicide bereavement

  Rejections and openings

  I’ve come to loathe the 17th each month, being the counter of moons that I am these days. 21 months last week since Reuben took his life, and despite meandering through the day fully aware of it, it wasn’t until I checked messages from him, in the weeks before he…

  June 21, 2022
• Aotearoa aroha consciousness grief love New Zealand Reuben Samuel Winter social issues suicide bereavement

  Birthing and grieving

  28 years ago I’d already been in labour for a day, then another before my tama ātaahua arrived. In the old days, we both would’ve died in the process. It was arduous to say the least. Yet this miraculous pēpē I was told I couldn’t have (because of cancer) still…

  May 19, 2022
• grief suicide bereavement

  Absence and reconnection

  Absence is something we all walk with, as a part of life, and in numerous ways. Yet I’ve come to realise, that it absolutely does not ‘make the heart grow fonder’. I love Reuben as unconditionally as I did before he died. Nothing will alter that. But this experience has…

  February 15, 2022
• Aotearoa consciousness environment injustice Mother Earth New Zealand social issues social media

  Inhabit

  This post may be seen as contentious, or a myriad of other labelling things. So if you’re someone who thinks that oppression, separatism and exclusion are okay, please feel free to unfollow me. What has become clear is that I can no longer remain quiet, in response to what I…

  November 22, 2021
• Aotearoa

  ‘Each day’s same horizon to be faced’

  I am a gramophone on the subject. Each day’s same horizon to be faced. You long to fade out into it, yourself. I look doggedly after a missing figure. What to do now is clear, and wordless. You will bear what can not be borne. (from ‘He lies somewhere in…

  November 15, 2021
• Aotearoa

  The abyss of deafening silence

  (CW: suicide bereavement) Five months today, since Reuben died — I have become the mother who counts weeks, moons and months. On days like this, where I’ve had very little sleep, and there are demands upon me that feel irrelevant and unimportant in the face of my grief, I want…

  February 17, 2021
• Aotearoa aroha grief love poems poetry suicide

  a new poem…

  The wonderful poet Gail Ingram of Ōtautahi Christchurch, has a new poem of mine I count chimneys up on her (virtual) fridge this week. I’m infinitely grateful for my ability to write, even when dealing with overwhelming emotions such as grief and love. I count chimneys speaks to one of several…

  August 7, 2019
• Aotearoa consciousness grief poetry women

  throat

  without sound tight throated last in the line of women no others   i mourn losses you them gaps created like deep chasms   i know a thing or two about sadness

  May 13, 2016