Mike Bernhardt

Editor • Poet • Travel Writer

Voices of the
Grieving Heart

"At the edge of the mystery of death, we offer the poetry of our truth."
— Ram Dass

When Mike Bernhardt’s wife died in 1991, he turned to writing poetry as a tool of healing. He later solicited the poetry of other people whose loved ones had died and received hundreds of submissions from around the world. The result was Voices of the Grieving Heart. More than just an anthology of poetry, it is a companion on the darkest road many of us will ever have to travel: grieving the death of someone we loved.

30th Anniversary Expanded Edition


This new, expanded edition contains over 160 selected poems, essays, and images by 83 contributors who share their journeys through loss, grief, and transformation, including:

 • Deaths due to suicide, miscarriage, COVID-19, and other causes

 • Reflections on grief, 30 years later, from first-edition contributors

 • Prompts and blank pages for readers to add their own poetry

Voices of the Grieving Heart edited by Mike Bernhardt Grief Poetry
Mike Bernhardt Writer

About Mike Bernhardt

Mike Bernhardt is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in many print and online publications