A Dear Friend, Volume 1: Denial

by Daniel Mahoney

This first volume of poems is the poetic expression of the first stage of grief – denial. Wrestling with the reality that a dear friend is dead, a peculiar beginning amidst the sorrow is found. This first book begins a life of poetry, the expression of grief, and the pondering of beautiful things.

Hardcover with dust jacket: $15.95 | Hardcover Case Laminate with a special journaling section: $14.95 | Kindle: $5.99

TESTIMONIALS

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described five stages of grief as follows:

1) Denial – an unwillingness to accept a loss and a rejection of the reality that loss brings

2) Anger – frustration at a situation one perceives is out of his or her control

3) Bargaining – negotiating with God or with whatever might pass for a higher being whom one perceives has control

4) Depression – sadness or despair at one’s situation of loss

5) Acceptance – acknowledgment of the reality of the loss

In this series of books, poet Daniel Mahoney has accomplished something profound, a laying out in verse of, as Alexander Pope described of wit, ‘what oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed.’ His healing process is also ours as his poetry teaches us that all five of these stages contribute to our healing.” – Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, author of Catholic Realism

“Daniel Mahoney, in this impressive first collection of five volumes on grief, is the right poet to tackle the subject “Denial,” because he has a searingly honest voice, which is the only kind that could do justice to a phase of grief that few can authentically confront in memory, let alone art. I am asked to write endorsements of poetry collections frequently…and I must say, there is unique brilliance in this volume not often seen. It is perhaps not unrelated to this fact that Daniel has discovered and shared in his poem ‘The Greatest Paradox’ that Christ is both poem and poet. Many pearls in Daniel’s work have a music as strong as Gerard Manley Hopkins, an ache as stunning as Yeats.” – Annabelle Moseley, Award-winning Poet and Author of Sacred Braille, Our House of the Sacred Heartand Awake with Christ, Writer-in-Residence, Walt Whitman Birthplace 2009-2010

“In Daniel Mahoney’s A Dear Friend: Volume I: Denial (pp. 39) there is the beginning of an analysis of grief, particularly the loss of a father as a son is beginning to emerge into who he is, like a chrysalis turning butterfly and discovering a certain unintelligibility as the parent is no longer there. But, at the same time, there is a kind of falling out into poetry, of writing it and therefore of being a poet, as if being a poet has emerged out of the author’s grief like Eve from the side of Adam (cf. p. 10): ‘Poetry could listen to me, and I could find solace’ (p. Iv) – as if this could not have happened with the same drama if loss had not “broken” the secret on who the son discovered himself to be. While, in one sense, the poetry is clear, in another sense it is like looking at a shape falling in the water and which leaves us wondering how many are the ways we remember or experience the passing of another. And through it all there is the relationship to Christ – as if He only becomes clear as his father goes; and, in a line reminiscent of reflections on Mary’s humility, the poet says: ‘I will be among the little and the small’ (p. 29), alone, because ‘no one wants to be little, no, not anymore’ (p. 29). So, join the poet’s pursuit but be willing to be pursued by your vocation!” – Francis Etheredge, author of The Prayerful Kiss and Honest Rust and Gold

“Under an anagram of his name, Mahoney’s Denialshows you how prosody can erase the wrinkles of grief; the rhyme and rhythm of dactyls and trochees transforming emotions into the music of the garden; of leaf and flower. Of Love. And peace. Shadowing Milton’s beatification of grief in that poetic masterpiece, Lycidas. “Hence with denial vain and coy excuse! So may some gentle muse with lucky words favour my destin’d urn. And as he passes, turn. And bid fair peace to my sable shroud.” But Mahoney looks beyond that transformation of grief to “Something different, something more. What lies behind another door.” He sees in his new discovered prosody a paradox, the “Word made flesh. Loving men who brought him death… Christ the paradox…The poem and the poet.” He thus guides grief to even more sacred shores, beyond Milton’s “Pilot of the Galilean lake.” And for you and for me, the reader on the last page, the last feeling set to meter, we wonder if we too can envision that peace of mind and soul if we can break down the prose of pain, wrath, resentment and the many pages of our earthly purgatory into that heaven called poetry.” – Ivan Arthur, author of Pavement Prayers

“Daniel Mahoney’s poetry captures in a memory the hollow feelings we may not have acknowledged as grief; the refusing to believe that the lost isn’t just in another room, or across the state, on vacation; putting into words, too, the hollow fears of other griefs we don’t recognize: fear, knowledge, failure, spiritual battle, dreams, and the longing for heaven, all becoming something of a vessel in which to place our pain, like the jars of water at Cana – they will be turned from pain into beauty, just as the author has turned his pain into poetry.” – Grace Bourget, author of Light of Faith: Poems and Plays

“To the poet, such as Daniel Mahoney, is given the special task of sharing truths that otherwise would be relegated to the darkness of the night. Mahoney writes of the original striving for the wholeness of the primordial garden, with a light-touch and an insightful mind. He stands with eyes wide open to the eternal risk of living and the grace to be found in embracing that reality. His poems are ardent, honest, and sure to find understanding with anyone who has ever loved deeply and suffered well. By intuiting the inherent beauty of paradox with agility of spirit, Mahoney practices poetic reflection in an exemplary manner.” – Rachel Heise, author of Flow Gently Days

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Mahoney is a husband, father, and a poet. He writes about beauty in the simplicities of life and gives voice to the experience of grief. Daniel seeks to increase the awareness of grief and calls people to encounter our Lord amidst their sorrows. He is a practicing Catholic in the Diocese of Madison where he lives with his wife and two boys.

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