Abstract

Love in Grief is a timestamped lyrical triptych depicting three distinct exchanges between four Black women, one of whom was dying. The Manhattan’s chart-setting single, "Kiss and Say Goodbye," which hailed number one on the Billboard R&B Chart in 1976, set the stage for this tribute. In the first stanza, called The Song, the author channels a message from her friend, Georgiana Pickett, through Winfred Lovett’s intro: “This has to be the saddest day of my life.” The interdimensional exchange between the author and Pickett, transmitted by radio frequencies, demonstrates a common tension in grief—wretched desperation that guts and immobilizes in conflict with a distressing fight to overcome the inevitable. In this stanza, the author frantically tries to get back to New York in time to see Pickett still breathing despite feeling the cavernous pain of loss. The first timestamp is logged. In the second stanza, the author captures the moment when she has to say goodbye to Pickett over the phone while on the runway of a taxiing plane. In this surrealist still, another sister-friend demonstrates how Black women often hold space for others in grief despite their pain. It is a cultural practice. In this case, a mutual sister-friend held space for the distant author. This scene captures love, loss, pain, sorrow, and bridging through space and time. It is named The Call, which records the second timestamp. The third lyrical moment, dubbed The Embrace, shuttles the reader from The Call’s distant hold to a three-dimensional embrace between the author and another sister-friend. After seeing the group that gathered at the hospital, the author beelined into the arms of a friend like a beacon, and she held her. This embrace became the glue that kept the author from collapsing under grief. The third timestamp is logged in this hug, and the triptych is complete.

Love in Grief is dedicated to Lisa Yancey’s dear friend, Georgiana Pickett (December 15, 1968 - February 5, 2024), and the Black women who made these memories. The Song (Georgiana Pickett), The Call (Anna Glass), and The Embrace (Okwui Okpokwasili). Passage and metamorphosis thread throughout this tribute.

Lynnette Kaid of "Kaid-N-Kolor" created the graphic art accompanying Love in Grief.

Keywords: Love in Grief, lyrical triptych, Black Women, Soul Care, The Manhattans, Kiss and Say Goodbye, Georgiana Pickett, Kaid-N-Kolor

How to Cite:

Yancey, L., (2024) “Love in Grief”, the Black Theatre Review 3(1), 74-78. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/tbtr.6029