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Contributing Writer Grief, Absence & Negative Space

Amelia Cross

Amelia Cross has contributed to Light & Composition since 2015. Her Reflections meditate on what is no longer there — the absence with a shape, the gap left by something specific that once existed. Amelia's writing is never vague in its grief: she names what is gone, precisely, and finds in that precision a kind of staying power. Readers return to her pieces at particular times of year. They tend to know exactly why.

287 Published Reflections

Reflections by Amelia Cross

Showing 12 of 287 essays
The Currency of Breath Photo of the Day
May 4, 2018

The Currency of Breath

There is a specific weight to the coins we carry, a cold, metallic assurance that we are tethered to the world of things. I remember the small, velvet-lined box my grandmother kept, filled with foreign currency from places she never visited—pesos, francs, drachmas—each one a promise of a transaction that never occurred. We are taught […]
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The Ghost of the Commute Photo of the Day
March 20, 2018

The Ghost of the Commute

There is a specific silence that follows the departure of the last train. It is not the absence of sound, but the absence of purpose. I remember the way the platform looked when the crowd finally thinned—the discarded newspaper, the single glove left behind on a bench, the lingering scent of damp wool and exhaust. […]
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The Weight of a Wingbeat Photo of the Day
March 19, 2018

The Weight of a Wingbeat

There is a specific silence that follows the departure of a hummingbird. It is not a true silence, but a sudden, hollowed-out space where the air was once frantic with purpose. I remember the way my mother’s garden felt after the last of the summer blooms withered—the sudden, sharp realization that the frantic, iridescent motion […]
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The Weight of the Unseen Photo of the Day
March 17, 2018

The Weight of the Unseen

There was a blue wool sweater, thick and smelling of cedar, that lived on the back of the kitchen chair for three winters. It held the shape of shoulders that no longer lean against the doorframe. When it was finally moved, the chair didn’t just look empty; it looked like a failure of gravity. We […]
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The Weight of the Water Photo of the Day
March 2, 2018

The Weight of the Water

There is a specific silence that belongs to the woods, a quiet that is not an absence of sound, but a presence of something held back. I remember the creek behind my grandfather’s house, the way the water moved over the stones like a secret being whispered to the roots of the trees. It was […]
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The Weight of the Horizon Photo of the Day
February 16, 2018

The Weight of the Horizon

There is a specific silence that belongs to the end of a day. It is not the silence of sleep, but the silence of a door closing on a room you can no longer re-enter. I remember the blue-painted gate of my grandmother’s house, the way the paint flaked off under my thumb, and how […]
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The Ghost of Warmth Photo of the Day
February 11, 2018

The Ghost of Warmth

The blue wool sweater my father wore in the winter of 1998 is gone, unravelled into a pile of yarn that no longer holds the shape of his shoulders. It was a heavy, scratchy thing, smelling of damp earth and tobacco, but it was the only thing that kept the North Sea wind from reaching […]
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The Weight of the Tide Photo of the Day
February 9, 2018

The Weight of the Tide

There was a blue wool sweater, thick and smelling of cedar, that lived on the hook by the back door for seven years. It belonged to a man who no longer walks through that door, and when he left, he took the rhythm of his arrival with him. The hook is empty now, but the […]
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The Weight of Petals Photo of the Day
January 16, 2018

The Weight of Petals

There is a specific silence that follows the wilting of a garden. It is not the silence of a room where someone has left, but the silence of a life that has finished its cycle while you were looking the other way. I remember the way my grandmother’s hydrangeas would turn from vibrant, heavy globes […]
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The Weight of the Ripple Photo of the Day
January 8, 2018

The Weight of the Ripple

There was a wooden dock at the edge of the lake where my father used to stand, his hand resting on the small of my back to steady me against the wind. He is gone now, and the dock has long since rotted into the silt, leaving only the memory of the way the water […]
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The Weight of Standing Still Photo of the Day
January 2, 2018

The Weight of Standing Still

There is a specific silence that lives in the space between two trees. It is not the silence of a void, but the silence of a conversation that ended years ago, leaving only the architecture of the speakers behind. I remember the hammock that used to hang between the two palms in my grandmother’s yard—the […]
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The Weight of Still Water Photo of the Day
December 30, 2017

The Weight of Still Water

There is a specific silence that belongs to a pond before the day fully wakes. It is not the silence of an empty room, but the heavy, expectant quiet of a place waiting to be disturbed. I remember the surface of the water behind my childhood home, how it held the sky like a secret, […]
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