Loss.
Healing.
The Unexpected.
In this line of dots
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
where does the eye want to look?
Loss and healing are one story.
Here is my hand, reaching for yours.
Patricia McKernon Runkle’s books and poems explore loss, healing, and the unexpected. In addition to memoir and poetry, Patricia has written and published songs and collaborative choral pieces. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School and values the quiet work of listening.
Grief’s Compass
Grief’s Compass: Walking the Wilderness with Emily Dickinson is a memoir and poetic exploration of loss and healing. Written in a collage of forms—narrative, poetry, and journal entries—it tells how Patricia turned to Emily Dickinson’s letters and poems for perspective on grief after the devastating loss of her brother. In this award-winning work, she charts a path through the holy madness of grief and the grace of healing, and tenderly affirms our innate ability to heal.
To the You Who Used to Be
The poems in this lyrical collection trace a path from Patricia’s childhood to her mother’s young womanhood and eventual decline into dementia. They hold the sorrow of losing her to “the long silence of falling” and the wonder of a flawless presence amid the wreckage of memory loss. For even when her mother’s memory had seemed to vanish, she had flashes of lucidity when she was unmistakably herself. In these pages, Patricia becomes a witness and companion as she explores the distilled wisdom of free verse and crystalline brevity of haiku.
Selected poems
