Candlelight Magazine

You watched your mom take her last breath — and since then, nothing. Just numb.

Numbness is one of grief’s most misunderstood faces — often it’s shock doing its job. Michelle Smith, LPC, answers a reader afraid they’re grieving wrong.

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.

The grandfather who raised you is gone — and it’s left a hole you didn’t expect.

Losing the person who shaped you reorders everything. Michelle Smith, LPC, answers a reader replaying every moment they wish they’d held onto.

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.

Here’s where your writing would go.

Candlelight isn’t sold on a newsstand — it’s placed in the quiet rooms where people wait and remember. Which means an essay or poem you write about your own loss can meet a stranger in the middle of theirs, and make the wait a little less lonely.

We’re reading essays, fiction, poetry, art, and photography about grief. If you’ve been hesitating, consider this your invitation.

📩 [email protected] · subject: “submission.”

“Are you married?” — a simple question that knocks the air out of a recent widow.

When your heart says yes but life says no, even a form at the doctor’s office can undo you. Michelle Smith, LPC, answers a reader on the questions grief makes impossible.

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.

You said something cruel to him once — and now he’s gone, and you can’t take it back.

Grief and guilt together can keep you up at night. To the reader replaying one moment: he likely knew your whole heart. Michelle Smith, LPC, on making peace without the apology.

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.

You love your husband as he’s dying — and you’re ashamed of how lonely you feel.

Anticipatory grief is real, and longing for closeness while you care for someone you love does not make you a bad person. Michelle Smith, LPC, answers with compassion.

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.

After losing someone to su***de, the guilt and the loneliness can pull in opposite directions.

Craving connection and fearing it at the same time is a known, human response to this kind of loss — you are not alone in it. Michelle Smith, LPC, answers with care.

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.

You’re numb, you’re grieving — and your job needs you to smile anyway.

Showing up to work while your world has ended is its own kind of survival. Michelle Smith, LPC, answers a reader who can’t take more time off and can’t fake okay.

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.

Wondering if your writing belongs in Candlelight?

We’re drawn to the quiet, specific kind of grief writing — the essay about the anniversary your body remembers before your calendar does, the poem you almost didn’t keep, the short story where the loss never fully resolves, the photograph of a room someone left.

We publish nonfiction, fiction, poetry, art, and photography about loss and remembrance. If you’ve written toward any of that, send it our way.

📩 [email protected] — subject line: “submission.”

Your dad’s been gone three years, and you still can’t understand how your mom moved on so fast.

Resentment, loyalty, love, and guilt can all live in the same chest. Michelle Smith, LPC, answers a reader wondering if it’s wrong to feel this way. (It isn’t.)

Read the full “Dear Candlelight” column in the current issue of Candlelight.