Brunswick woman writes unconventional obituary for her poet brother
"His heart was at times trapped in his head, other times on his sleeve."
A Brunswick woman wrote a candid, fitting obituary for her poet brother after he died of an apparent heart attack on Nov. 9.
Doug “Digs” McLaughlin had been battling a terminal illness for 3 1/2 years. He was 45.
In an unconventional obituary published Nov. 16 in the Portland Press Herald, Alyson McLaughlin captured not what her brother did, but who he was.
“That’s what I wanted to get across — the soul of him, the feel of him,” McLaughlin told the newspaper. “He wasn’t his body of work. None of us are.”
Doug started writing poetry when he was 6 years old, McLaughlin said. The medium gave him a outlet as he struggled with alcohol and bipolar disorder.
“His words had meaning and depth. He could explain the simplest things in profound ways, the most elusive things with the simplest words,” she wrote in the obituary. “His heart was at times trapped in his head, other times on his sleeve.”
In a letter to the editor published Monday, Grace Hinrichs of Rockport called McLaughlin’s piece the “most moving obituary I’ve ever read.”
As one Facebook commentor said, “It appears poetry is a family thing, indeed.”
Read the full obituary here.
