Oak Cradle

In 2011 photographer Karen D. Gros made a series of images featuring Emily Knobloch in her family home in Thibodaux, Louisiana, along with heirloom objects found in her attic-old photographs, furniture, and a black linen mourning dress. What Gros never could have predicted is that ninety days after these images were taken, her nineteen-year-old son, Garrett, would die by suicide. He drove his car head on into an oak tree. Gros literally became the mourning woman in the images, and her photography became a way for her to cope with this unimaginable loss. Poet Chantel L. Carlson saw the images in 2015 and immediately wanted to know the underlying narrative.Their ensuing conversations about grief, loss, and perseverance resulted in this magnificent collection of poems and photographs intended to support and remind grieving individuals that they are not alone.