Thursday, March 19, 2015

What Should We Be Without the Poem of Death

Men Made Out Of Words

What should we be without the sexual myth,
The human reverie or poem of death?

Castratos of moon-mash – Life consists
Of propositions about life. The human

Reverie is a solitude in which
We compose these propositions, torn by dreams,

By the terrible incantations of defeats
And by the fear that defeats and dreams are one.

The whole race is a poet that writes down
The eccentric propositions of its fate.

                                                                                  ----Wallace Stevens
 
Okay, so I have told this story a thousand times so once more won’t hurt. I love cemeteries. I love what they say and what they do. I love going to a cemetery with a pocketful of poems like the Wallace Stevens poem above. I challenge anyone to go to a cemetery with Poe’s Ulalume,  Bryant’s Thanatopsis, Millay’s Renaissance, Donne’s Death Be Not Proud or Fawcett’s Darkness and not come home with a photograph that says something about how they feel about death or cemeteries or whatever they feel the future is to hold …

 










2 comments:

  1. Wow! I ove the subtle yet powerful photos.

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  2. Saundra, thank you for the kind remark. Lensbabies and cemeteries are made for each other.

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