Acts of Violet

by Margarita Montimore

My sister told me never to trust a man with two first names, and while a lot of what she said was nonsense, I’ll take her at her word on that one.

But then, of course, February 22 came, she went, and I was left to make sense of it all. Though I never could. Still can’t.

When you really don’t want to believe something, you’ll create a new logic to circumvent the truth; sometimes necessity isn’t the mother of invention so much as denial.

Let’s be clear: I’m defending her work, not her as a person. We’ve reached a point where society refuses to distinguish someone’s creative work from who they are. A lot of great art has been made by shitty people.

In your case, you’re also coping with ambiguous grief in reaction to a loss with no closure.

But it’s not a matter of right and wrong—there’s no such thing when it comes to your emotions. It’s not about what you should and shouldn’t feel as much as identifying what you are feeling.”