PWAC: entering the whirlwind

entering the whirlwind

by Christopher-Dana Rose

We enter the whirlwind
Shaken and unsettled
quite unexpectedly
by all that has gone
on before

Aplomb in our
desire to work
it through

Uncertainties flailing
right and left, up and down

Yet, a mere promise looms
somewhere in the distance

It is the largest
most elusive
and right
now most unmentionable word in the world
~healing~

The winds calm

With due work
restoration
awaits us

For the last four years I have been doing AIDS-related bereavement at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center (in New York City), and I must say from the very outset that this is the most important and life-affirming work I have ever done.

Often when I tell people what I,m doing they say, "Gee, that must be very tiring work,o/oo or "Don,t you ever get depressed from doing that work?,o/oo or, "It must be very sad.o/oo,

And you know, their questions are on target as to how I feel sometimes. It,s the honest feeling that I must readily recognize. I do get tired from doing this work. Yet, there is the failure to ask the other half of the question, "Dana, do you feel good about your job?o/oo or "What good comes from doing this work?o/oo I am then able to deliver an answer that is powerful, hopeful and life-affirming. Doing the work of grief and loss in a "safero/oo setting takes us to a new place. We are moved towards healing!

I become excited about my work, even in the middle of the tiredness. In the above poem, "Entering the Whirlwind,o/oo I seek to let people know that to do the work is not easy. But it is what is required so that we can get on with our lives in a healthy way. "A mere promise looms somewhere in the distance.o/oo

Here at centerBridge, we provide a three tier service of individual counseling, support groups, trainings for staff of CBOs, hospitals and other agencies as well as doing memorials and other community events.

Doing this work as either counselor or participant works. All of our work ends in celebration ~ celebration of our lives and of those who have touched our lives and have now gone on. None of us get to the healing place rapidly without work. And celebration of any kind seems far off and inappropriate. Healing does come. I know. I have had many loss experiences around the Pandemic. It pains! Yet, again I quote my poem, "The winds calm...with due work restoration awaits us.

I invite you to "Enter the Whirlwindo/oo with support.

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