A review by mirajoe
What the Living Do: Poems by Marie Howe

5.0

My dad died in June. After, I felt so guilty every time I laughed at a joke or enjoyed a movie or stopped thinking about my grief for even a moment. How could I ever be joyful again when someone I loved was dead? A wise quote online helped me- my love does not lie in the pain of my grief. And the titular poem of this collection. Now, every time I find happiness, I respond to the corresponding guilt with Marie Howe's wisdom: I am living. I remember you. Death and mundane happinesses don't go together easily, but Howe manages to reconcile them.