– Is love worth the pain?

My belief in immortality for the people I adored did not pan out.

Terri Kirby Erickson of Pfafftown, NC, is the author of seven poetry collections, including her latest book, Night Talks: New & Selected Poems (Press 53), a Finalist for the International Book Award for Poetry. Her work has appeared in “American Life in Poetry,” Atlanta Review, Rattle, The SUN, The Writer’s Almanac, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and numerous other publications. Winner of the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Nautilus Silver Book Award, and many others, her most recent awards are the Annals of Internal Medicine Poetry Prize and the Tennessee Williams Poetry Prize.