BRATTLEBORO — In her debut poetry collection “Moon Jar,” Didi Jackson explores the life-altering loss of a husband to suicide.
In an effort to understand this unforeseen and inexplicable act, she maps the emotional difficulty of continuing her responsibility as a mother while attempting to regain a sense of normalcy. While grief never fully subsides, Jackson allows herself over time to rediscover love as she contends with the brutal and haunting grip of human trauma.
“I think the book is there more for the survivors, those who survived suicide loss,” she has said. “There have been a handful of people who’ve told me personally that they have attempted suicide or contemplated suicide, and that they really appreciate the book for the honesty and for showing that there’s movement toward something positive and new life, a new chance.”
On Friday, Aug. 13 at 5 p.m., Jackson will be in conversation with former Vermont Poet Laureate Chard deNiord at the next Literary Cocktail Hour hosted by The Brattleboro Literary Festival as it celebrates its 20th anniversary year. Registration for the free event is online at bit.ly/LitCocktail12.
Moon Jars were originally made during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). They are curvaceous, plain white porcelain jars resembling a full moon. Moon Jars, due to their size, were made in two halves, joined together so that the line of the join is often visible and are valued for their imperfections.
Jackson grew up in Florida, where she lived for 40 years before moving to Vermont in 2016. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Kenyon Review, New England Review, Ploughshares and elsewhere and have been selected for the Best American Poetry Series and Poem-a-Day by the Academy of American Poets. She recently relocated to Nashville, Tennessee with her husband Major Jackson, and she serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Vanderbilt University.
Chard deNiord, the former poet laureate, lives in Westminster West with his wife, Liz.
