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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 Weight of the Harvest Photo of the Day
August 2, 2017

The Weight of the Harvest

There is a specific silence in a kitchen after the guests have left and the plates are cleared. It is not the silence of emptiness, but the silence of consumption—the quiet that follows the act of taking something from the earth and making it part of ourselves. I think of the parsley that once stood […]
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The Weight of the Wind Photo of the Day
July 16, 2017

The Weight of the Wind

There is a specific silence that follows the departure of a nomadic life. It is not the silence of an empty room, but the silence of a path that no longer bears the weight of a footfall. I think of the heavy wool coats my grandfather kept in the cedar chest, smelling of mothballs and […]
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The Ghost of the Orchard Photo of the Day
June 26, 2017

The Ghost of the Orchard

There was a swing set in my grandmother’s backyard, the kind with rusted chains that groaned in a specific, rhythmic protest whenever the wind caught them. It is gone now, replaced by a flat, manicured lawn that refuses to hold a memory. When I think of that space, I do not see the grass; I […]
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The Weight of the Tide Photo of the Day
May 11, 2017

The Weight of the Tide

There is a specific silence that belongs to the shoreline, a silence that exists only when the water retreats. It is not the absence of sound, but the absence of the wave’s arrival—that split second where the ocean seems to hold its breath, waiting to reclaim what it has already touched. I remember the way […]
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The Weight of Passing Photo of the Day
May 11, 2017

The Weight of Passing

There is a specific, hollow ache in seeing the place where a body has been, only to find the body gone. I remember the indentation left on a velvet cushion after my mother stood up to leave the room—a soft, concave ghost of her weight that lingered for minutes before the fabric slowly reclaimed its […]
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The Weight of the Soil Photo of the Day
April 23, 2017

The Weight of the Soil

There is a specific silence that belongs to the earth after the harvest, when the stalks have been cut and the ground is left to remember the weight of the grain. I think of my grandfather’s hands, the way the skin had hardened into a map of the fields he worked for forty years. When […]
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The Weight of the Horizon Photo of the Day
April 10, 2017

The Weight of the Horizon

There is a specific silence that lives in the places we leave behind. It is not the silence of an empty room, but the heavy, pressurized quiet of a view that no longer holds our gaze. I remember the balcony of a house I lived in years ago; it looked out over a valley that […]
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The Weight of Small Things Photo of the Day
April 5, 2017

The Weight of Small Things

There is a specific silence that follows the departure of a songbird from a branch. It is not merely the absence of sound, but the sudden, heavy realization that the air has been vacated by a life that required so little space to exist. We spend our days mourning the grander losses—the houses we sold, […]
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The Weight of a Wing Photo of the Day
March 12, 2017

The Weight of a Wing

There is a specific silence that follows a bird’s departure from a branch. It is not a true silence, but a sudden, hollowed-out space where a heartbeat used to be. I remember a small, wooden birdhouse that hung in my grandfather’s garden; it was always empty, yet it felt heavy with the potential of what […]
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The Weight of the Surface Photo of the Day
March 11, 2017

The Weight of the Surface

There is a specific silence that belongs to the water’s edge, the kind that exists only when the wind has forgotten to breathe. I remember the pond behind my childhood home, a dark mirror that held the reflection of the willow tree until the first stone was tossed, shattering the image into a thousand shivering […]
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The Architecture of Awe Photo of the Day
February 28, 2017

The Architecture of Awe

The ceiling of my grandmother’s kitchen was once a map of water stains, a topography of leaks that I spent hours tracing while she moved through the room. I remember the specific smell of damp plaster and the way the light would catch the dust motes, turning the air into something solid, something you could […]
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The Weight of the Morning Photo of the Day
February 21, 2017

The Weight of the Morning

There is a specific silence that belongs only to a Sunday morning kitchen, the kind that exists before the coffee has finished brewing and the house has fully woken. I remember the blue ceramic plate my mother used, the one with the chipped rim that felt like a secret map under my thumb. It is […]
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