Mylo Schaaf’s new book, Blown Into Now: Poems for a Journey, takes readers on an odyssey through shade and light, offering glimpses into the stages of grief Schaaf went through when her son died suddenly at age 24. She offers the profound manifestations of his presence that she witnessed following his passing.
“Poems demanded to be written,” Schaaf said. “They brought relief and healing, as did hills warm with grass, tree spirits and arms of sky.”
Blown Into Now offers 45 remarkable poems, each paired with a striking photograph taken by her late son, Alex Lowenstein, who was a mountaineer, world traveler and adventurer, and veteran.
“The path is not all sadness,” she said during a recent interview. “It goes sort of up and down as you suppose any path would, but it eventually heads toward joy and toward understanding.”
In Blown Into Now, Schaaf carries readers from deep sadness and loss to comfort and support, finally edging toward joy. Her melodic words become a guidebook, allowing those who grieve to witness a spectrum of responses, to understand what might give relief, and to know how to look for the signposts that will guide them down the path toward healing.
To those who must endure such a shocking new reality, she aims to bring compassion, beauty and spiritual connection.
Her poems reveal a mother’s great heart and the love she shares with her son for granite peaks and untracked desert. Each photograph provides a pause from grief and allows us a glimpse of something we want and cannot name.
About the Author
Mylo Schaaf trained as a journalist, editor and physician, before taking a left turn into poetry. Before everything changed, she was a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, mentoring and teaching students in international, low-resource settings. Her commitment to global health grew out of her work and connection with India, the Americas, Liberia, Haiti and China. Then one day, a shocking phone call revealed her son’s death and collapsed this pursuit of engagement and action. Each long day would slowly disappear, and Schaaf found understanding and release when she began to write. Over the years poems have continued to emerge, as the tangles of days slip into light.
For more information, please visit www.myloschaaf.com, or follow the author on Instagram at writermyloschaaf.