Graves
Both of us had been closeto Joel, and at Joel’s death
my friend had gone to the wake
and the memorial service
and more recently he had
visited Joel’s grave, there
at the back of the grassy
cemetery among the trees,
“a quiet, gentle place,” he said,
“befitting Joel.” And I said,
“What’s the point of going
to look at graves?” I went
into one of my celebrated
tirades. “People go to look
at the grave of Keats or Hart
Crane, they go traveling just to
do it, what a waste of time.
What do they find there? Hell,
I wouldn’t go look at the grave of
Shakespeare if it was just
down the street. I wouldn’t
look at—” And I stopped. I
was about to say the grave of God
until I realized I’m looking at it
all the time....
The inner message of this poem has an extremely deep meaning. It is a scary fact that when the poem constantly mentions "Joel" it reminds me of my friend Joel. He discusses the various sorrows of "been close to Joel." The poem has a devastating state of sadness and pity.
ReplyDeleteThe poem uses a common scene to express the meaning it wants us to see. The poem shifts from a grim mood of a wedding to a lighter mood of arguing the importance of visiting graves to a sudden realization that has a deeper meaning.
ReplyDeleteThe title "Graves" is perfect for this poem. It describes the grave scenario and talks about saying bye to a good friend. It is quite satirical on today's dying world with consumerism and egocentric people. The many layers involved here make for a very interesting poem.
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