I Hold Up a Mirror
By Jennifer Gurney

I grieve the me

that was alive

with you

I hold up a mirror

now that you’re gone

and try to see her, again

I tell myself

the things you used to say

to tease her out

through grief-veiled eyes

she’s hard to see

but still there

she is wanting

to be seen again, still

beautiful. beloved, whole

the youngest

she’s ever felt

with you

I hold the part of me

that was alive with you

and she returns to me

Jennifer Gurney lives in Colorado where she teaches, paints, writes and hikes. Her poetry is widely published, two of her poems have won international contests and one was turned into a choral piece. One of her poems was recently long listed for the Elizabeth Royal Patton Poetry Prize. Jennifer has 10 books of poetry, My Eyes Adjusting (2024), Liquid Sky (2025), Love’s Echolocation (2025), Light Matters More (2025), Unheard Verses (2025), Life Extends Outward (2025), The Curiosity of Roadside Attractions (2025), Your Voice Still In My Ear (2025), Indelible Ink (forthcoming) and The Possibility of Joy (forthcoming). Her poetry manuscript, We Are Never Ready: A Collection of Grief Poems, made Honorable Mention for the 2025 Concrete Wolf Louis Award. Another manuscript, Curvature of Life, was selected as a semi-finalist in the Tenth Gate Prize 2025 from The Word Works.