Kayak Morning: Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats

In "Making Toast", Roger Rosenblatt shared the story of his family in the days and months after the death of his 38-year-old daughter, Amy. Now, in "Kayak Morning", he offers a personal meditation on grief itself. Everybody grieves he writes. From that terse, melancholy observation emerges a work of art that addresses the universal experience of grief. On a quiet Sunday morning, two and a half years after Amy's death, Roger Rosenblatt heads out in his kayak. He observes: You can't always make your way in the world by moving up; Or down, for that matter; Boats move laterally; and, Boats and water. They are two of the three great levelers. Part elegy, part quest, "Kayak Morning" explores Roger's years as a journalist, the solaces of literature, and the value of solitude as it poignantly reminds us that grief is not apart from life but encompasses it. In recalling to us what we have lost, grief by necessity resurrects what we have had. "Kayak Morning" gracefully articulates the geometry of sorrow, offering readers an unsentimental and deeply moving account of the possibility of redemption in the wake of wrenching loss.