J.O. Bernard’s In the Absence of Presence, a collection of poems, letters, and phrases, is a tender reflection on grief and longing.
The book is mostly influenced by the writers he has read and studied. His literary world is also a complete contrast to his early environment in Eastlands, Nairobi, a place he described as hostile for a young boy.
So he sought literature as his solace, aware that the literary world that we are exposed to can be different from our environments.
A foremost influence on the book is Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who is widely considered the poet of Palestine.
In the past year and a half, during the ongoing conflict in Palestine, Bernard immersed himself in Darwish’s work and was mostly drawn to a collection of prose poems titled In the Presence of Absence that Darwish authored in his final years.
“He was aware of his mortality; therefore, he was reflecting on his life through this book. It was a letter to himself,” Bernard says.
He explains that he employed the literary stylistic device of inimitability, inverting the title of his book to create contrast and to pay tribute to Darwish. The title of his book, he says, also describes the mood during the time of writing the book.
He was also fascinated by writers such as Darwish who write in their natural voice, free from rigid academic structures. He observes that they express themselves in their traditional sense, and they are consumed as literature. “Darwish could give a storm an emotion. I could feel what the storm was feeling. I wanted people to feel other than just read,” he says.
His writing process is inspired by observing life and looking into perspectives that may go unnoticed.
He explains that his style is light in his choice of words but heavy on the feelings. He gives an example of My Crying Rose, a poem in this book that shows that even in adversity, there is hope. Even though his works are fictionalised, he writes them from experience, and other people can relate to them.
The book was meant to be published early last year, but he struggled with why it is important since his debut poetry collection, Everything Has Wings, was about love and joy. He then saw that the book was to make grief and loss as much a part of life as joy and love.
“In the Absence of Presence is my second book and it was mostly written to myself. In my sharing, I also hope that I am liberating others from their grief,” he says.
Writing about grief and loss needed a lot of courage from him, too. In the book, poems such as A Call from Home were shaped by personal experiences, including a family member being in palliative care.
The poem reflects ideas of the next world after death, drawing from the tradition of burial in ancestral homes. While such writing is often interpreted as romantic, Bernard says that it also contains spirituality and other life experiences.
The book encompasses short phrases, full poems, and letters. Bernard explains that he wanted to begin lightly with epigraphs before moving into longer poems and eventually letters. While letters are traditionally private, he says they hold a literary space that is as old as time.
“Reading such books feels strange to people. I have had a reader say that they felt they were not supposed to read this. It felt intrusive,” he says. He adds, “I love that letters take you into that intimate space. You will feel like you are either writing it or receiving it.”
Even when writing from personal experience, he noted that he mirrored elements found in Darwish’s work, including the character Rita, through whom Bernard penned the Dear Rita letter.
The mixed forms in the book gave him freedom, as he felt less afraid and more willing to bring his artistic instincts into the writing. It also changed his understanding of grief and loss, and accepting them as part of life.
Bernard is also a painter who grew up painting and writing. He has participated in the Shifting Tides and Time Between Times exhibitions. He says some emotions are easier to express visually, while others are through words.
“I am more interested in how they feel when they see my work rather than what they think. I want them to look at or read my work and miss someone. I want them to experience their own grief and walk them through it,” he says.