Other Works

“I write only because

There is a voice within me

That will not be still.”

Sylvia Plath

Jerry Don Campbell was an Ottawa University student who had hoped to study abroad but never fulfilled his dream due to the loss of his life in an automobile accident in 1969. Through a memorial scholarship in his name, I was able to travel to the Orkney Islands of Scotland in May of 2024 in his honor. Having to create an academic piece, I planned to create a poetry collection of my travels to honor his life, and in some way, give Jerry the trip he had always hoped for.

Life changes in an instant and a drowning feeling of grief consumed me before the trip, which completely changed the intent and the outcome of the collection that I created. Not only for Jerry, my travels to the Islands then became a trip for two other ornery and good humans who we didn’t get enough time with — my cousins, Jamison and Jeremiah.

This Orkney Reflection is a raw and vulnerable reflection of how I still grasp the idea of grief and its unfairness, the day we lost Jamie, remembering Jeremiah, what I expected this trip to be and how it completely changed, the grief that followed me across the world, and a realization of the beauty that persists even in the clouds of grief.

Growing up in a funeral home shaped who I am. This piece isn’t to show any ill feelings toward who I became, even if it seems that way in my writing. I am thankful for who this made me become; I am sensitive, empathetic, kind, and I love deeply. Even when it all feels like a curse, I wouldn’t want to be any other way — I wouldn’t want to have any other home, even when it’s meant for the dead. Thank you, funeral home, for all you have done for me.