“Meet me in the Future“ Spring 2025 Green Silk Journal and “Thanks for these gray hairs” Spring 2025, prose poem, redrosethorns are now out! These are micro-memoir pieces.
A Study in Grief was taken by Wild Willow Magazine (where the word takes root), formally The Minison Project. It is considered a fledgling publication by Duotrope, the portal I mostly use to submit and discover publications and calls for submissions.
Grief. It something I’ve been feeling a lot these days—like whenever I open the news or social feed on my phone. It settles on me like humidity before a storm. I’d like to come inside and hide from it, not come back out until after its gone. Except there is always more.
I’d had a few friends who have gone through things lately like losing loved ones: partners, parents, etc. As have I. So I listed them, wrote them down with a bit of annotation. There were also things I observed, such as on a run Christmas lights left up year-round—what’s up with that? So I surmised.
Like anything labeled or titled a study, it is a series. The sketches might all appear the same, but there are tiny differences. No two grief experiences are the same. It all comes to us in different fashions. We also encounter it differently at different times or stages. It’s what makes grief unique. A study allows me to come in close and examine, note the nuances.
Though some are culled from real-life, no one will recognize themselves in these observations—or maybe you will. As grief is something that visits us all. Also, check out these FORTHCOMING:
“Three Doors” FORTHCOMING, 2025, The Writers’ Journal
“Circa 1984” FORTHCOMING, Switch Microfiction
“Sea of Lingerie” FORTHCOMING, Hoot
“Riding Bikes at Night” (prose poem) Forthcoming Fall 2025, Ink in Thirds
Jane Hertenstein 
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