What if, instead of grief poem by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer in typewriter font on handmade paper with yellow sunflowers watercolor image by artist Trisha Shaw. This special poem would be a thoughtful gift for anyone who you share your grief with.
What if, instead of grief,
we call it pollination,
a process through which we realize
the gold of our hearts must spill out
and if we are to survive as a species,
it requires we somehow exchange
this gold with each other—all our hearts
splayed open, all our hearts needing
what the other hearts have.
It’s messy. Vulnerable.
And this is how we go on.
Your grief. My grief.
The quiet buzz of conversation.
This splitting open. This spilling.
This sharing with each other.
This deepening.
The words are printed in a typewriter font on handmade cotton rag paper. The color of the paper is a natural, unbleached white but may occasionally have tiny speckles of random color from other fibers mixed in. Size varies slightly because of the imperfect nature of handmade paper, but will be roughly 5" x 7", 8" x 10", or 11" x 14" based on your selection.
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is a poet, teacher, speaker, writing facilitator, and poet laureate of Evermore. Her poems have appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, PBS News Hour, O Magazine, American Life in Poetry, Washington Post’s Book Club, and Carnegie Hall stage. This poem is from her most recent book of poems, The Wonderment (2026).
This listing is for the physical print only, frame not included.
PROCESSING AND SHIPPING
Orders usually ship within 1-3 business days. Prints ship in a flat mailer via USPS based on the shipping option selected. Thank you for shopping at Alison Rose Vintage.
