The ZOPA Zoo

I haven’t written here since Careless Whispers launched.

Not because there hasn’t been anything happening.

Because there has been too much.

A few weeks ago, my mother passed away.

I’ve written about grief before. I’ve counted days. I’ve named silence. I’ve put pain into poems and tried to make something honest from it.

But losing my mother has been different.

It has been quieter in some ways. Louder in others. It has moved through my family, my memories, my routines, and the small places where her voice still lives.

Before she passed, my mom and I created something together.

A children’s book called The ZOPA Zoo.

It is sweet, strange, funny, and full of heart — which feels fitting, because so was she.

After my mother suffered a stroke, her ability to create the book herself was limited, so I adapted and illustrated it with her. Together, we brought her vision to life.

At first, it was only meant to be a family heirloom. A private book for the people who loved her and knew the story behind it.

But to honor my mother, and the way she loved the odd and peculiar things of the world, I’ll be publishing The ZOPA Zoo. I’m hoping to have it available by mid-June.

Not because grief is finished.

It isn’t.

But because love still gets to move forward.

Thank you for being patient with my quiet.

I’m still here.

And so is she, in the pages.

—Oquirrh Keyes