Into the Void - by Tom Greening (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Death is a pervasive reality that impacts the life of every living person, often leading to denial, avoidance, and attempts to overcome it. In the end, we all must face death, as Dr. Tom Greening does in his new book of poems, Into the Void. This powerful collection of poems written by the eminent existential psychologist, Dr. Tom Greening. With his usual wit, humor, and honesty, Greening birthed these poems from his experience as he ages and faces his own declining health and mortality. Each poem reveals another layer of the experience of facing death. The honesty of Greening's poems is a gift to all who read them. They are sure to bring laughter, sadness, and tears. But most importantly, they bring with them poignant wisdom that may help others in their own journey with their mortality.

Review Quotes

In this starkly honest yet poignant collection, Tom Greening shows once again the poetic power of illumination. For Tom unveils for us an intimacy that cannot be matched by theories or scientific reports; his heart and his gut are the investigators, and his pleas, cries, and bemusements are his findings. We may not recognize it at first but Tom is giving voice not just to his own ungraspable trajectory but to the trajectory of every one of us as we age; and to the extent he elucidates that, he gives us all a little more light, a little more compassion, and a little more levity with which to carry on, and sometimes to thrive.

Kirk Schneider, PhD, author of Awakening to Awe and The Depolarizing of America: A Guidebook for Social Healing

This book, with its beauty, humor, honesty, and frank look at death, will also light a path and lead the way for so many of us who will eventually traverse the path Dr. Greening is currently walking. I imagine that someday, when I reach this point of my life, I will return to this book of poetry to find Dr. Greening, once again, ready to walk me home.

Lisa Vallejos, PhD

President, The Humanitarian Alliance and

Board Chair, Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling & Psychological Association

Into the Void cleverly embraces the vestiges of life as one moves through the processes of aging to in extremis. This book poetically expresses a much-needed antidote to the current fears of dying: It holds the promise of a creative and joyful humanism even till death us do part.

Nathaniel Granger, Jr., PsyD, Past President, Society for Humanistic Psychology (American Psychological Association, Division 32);

Editor, Poetry, Healing, and Growth Series, University Professors Press

The raw honesty of his slow, struggling walk into the void (death) is a beautiful, yet painful dance between acceptance and rage. Through witty irreverence, sarcasm, and longing appreciation, Tom expresses his fatigue of aging and the feeling of being suspended somewhere between meaningful living with what time remains and being dead without knowing yet know it.

Michael Moats, PsyD, Co-Editor, Capturing Shadows: Poetic Encounters Along the Path of Grief & Loss and Our Last Walk: Using Poetry for Grieving and Remembering Our Pets

As with the ancient and elegant tradition of Jisei, the Japanese Death poem, Tom Greening's collection of verse, Into the Void, is a deeply personal farewell to life. Like his earlier works, the poet weaves together pithy observations with heartrending longings for one more day in the light.

Gina Belton, PhD, Thanatologist

Psychology faculty at Saybrook University