Much writing on the subject of death, dying, cancer, and grief is often sugar coated. That is understandable, considering the difficulty experienced by those dealing with it. However, in the process of grieving, it is essential to express, in often raw terms, how excruciating it is. Jere Truer, being both a therapist and a widower, worked through his grief via poetry and honesty, with the hope that these poems will validate others' reality, give permission to bear down into grief and emerge on the other side of it.