My Bright Abyss, by Christian Wiman
Having struggled with a rare cancer that offered little chance of recovery, Poetry magazine editor Christian Wiman has navigated his way through questions of belief and death. His cartography begins early in his life with the story of his grandmother and elderly great aunt. During his early adult years, Wiman lived in a trailer in the yard of “the big house” where they lived. The two women died within weeks of each other, and each came to dying with her own understanding or fear, even as she lived a life grounded in faith.