Mister Death

Joan Didion quotes ee cummings' "Buffalo Bill's" in "The Year of Magical Thinking",

"how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death"

Didion's book scalds recent grief and gives a voice to dormant grief.

Everyone seems to be reading Didion's book, and they should.

It seems that I've been reading a lot of books about grief lately. I recommend Alison Smith's "Name All the Animals," the story of her brother's death as a teenager.

I will never know the grief of losing a spouse or a child. I think I planned it that way.

Buy these books. There will come a time when you will want to read them, for comfort or cauterization.