Grief Stick Chapbook + Film

Overview

In late 2019, poet Alex Behr reunited with Chris Hartman, lost to her for thirty years. Their brief, intense romance in San Francisco left behind no photos, and her ’64 Plymouth Valiant that he fixed was certainly flattened somewhere in a junk yard. Yet they’d never forgotten each other. Chris, now in Seattle, moved to Portland in June 2020, planning to start a new life with her. However, he succumbed to a rare, aggressive prion illness, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, in October 2020.

In exploring her grief, Alex created Grief Stick, a poetry chapbook (Picture Frame Press), now in its second printing. She also produced a short film of the same name with director/editor Brian Padian, which received a RACC Arts 3C grant. Out of the chaos of loss, Brian created an arc from Alex’s recorded poems, photographs, and videos, weaving in music as a sonic pulse and balm.

As Chris was dying here, in late Sept 2020, he said, "It means a lot to me that your family has me in their hearts. I guess that means I'm free."

Poetry Chapbook

“Alex Behr’s GRIEF STICK is a beautiful and shattering real-life love story that cuts deep and true. A film of the same name will also come to life soon.” — Powell’s Staff Pick

Chapbook: 40 pp. 5.5X4.25”. High-quality cover and paper stock. Picture Frame Press. Dedicated to Christopher Hartman, Alex’s partner and fiancé, who died Oct. 6, 2020.

Limited copies available of first edition. Second edition now printed in appealing teal.

Up Up Books

Poems in chapbook include Month Three in Ghost City Press and a Spectacle about meeting Chris in 1990 in Kithe

Inaugural reading at Up Up Books, on Thur., Sept 5, 2024, 7 pm with Matthew Dickman and book designer Scott Cannon.

“Her poetry is ecstatic, tender, vulnerable, fierce, and wholly unique. When I think of Alex there’s not another writer she reminds me of. If I were to compare her work as a poet it would have to be a comparison to some sort of mix between the late, great, visual artist Carl Andre and the band Public Image Limited or a mash-up of Patti Smith and the band Minor Threat.”
— Matthew Dickman

Grief Stick Film

SCREENINGS

GRIEF STICK has been named an official selection of Oregon Documentary Film Festival Winter 2025! This event will take place on Sunday, January 26, 2025 at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St, Portland, OR 97202, USA.

AWARD NOMINEE: Best Documentary Film

SCREENING IN FEB: info coming soon

Synopsis

After 30 years, separated by time and circumstance, Portland poet Alex Behr reunites with her lost love Chris Hartman. Soon after reconnecting, Chris becomes ill with an accelerated, fatal disease. Grief Stick explores the contours of love and death, using photographs, poems, voicemails, and video to show the before/during/after of the illness and how it impacts them both.

Director's Statement

When I heard Alex Behr was looking for an editor for a film project about the illness that destroyed her partner Chris, I immediately offered to help. I didn't know Chris at all and Alex only socially, but the themes of sickness, body betrayal, and the sudden perspective shift due to transformative news resonated with me - I am a brain tumor survivor. I knew I could tune to the right frequency and not be daunted, but working on this film was still challenging for me and many days I had to give myself strict time-limits lest I be overwhelmed by the content. Alex provided me with a ton of material - video she shot, video Chris shot, voicemails, recorded poems, endless photos - so the obstacle for me was finding an engaging manner to shape it in a way that was true to the experience and to the poetry of the experience at once. Over the course of the project I came to know Alex better and Chris posthumously. Grief Stick was a very stirring project for me and I hope it will be for you as well.

Thanks

Brian and Alex thank musicians Corrina Repp, The Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, and Christine Shields. Thanks to the Regional Arts and Culture Council for awarding Alex an Arts3C grant to fund the film. Thanks to Marty + Peter Behr and Alexandra Walcott for further funding, and to Chas Nielsen and Ollie Sims for audio recording and editing help. Add’l photography and videos from Lewis Watts, Stephen Perkins, Jennifer Stady, Jason Noone, and Geoff Soule.

Thanks to everyone who helped as Chris got sick and died. Your kindness made us weep.

a dogwood ink & northern flicker films co-production