Legacy

I was reading a book written by a poet friend of mine who is around the age of 70.

He quotes Dylan Thomas at the beginning of the book:

"Poetry.
I like to think of of it
as statements made on the way to the grave."

This quote is appropriate, I suppose, since my friend's book is a commemoration of his own life. However, it is sad to me that my friend is already thinking about his eventual death and writing his poetic autobiography so the life he lived will be left behind, remembered in the pages of his book.

In the air...

Spring is here, although you can't tell by all the snow being dumped on the Canadian prairies right now.

Last week, before the snow, every single member of my poetry group, coincidentally, brought a poem about some sort of dead animal. Death isn't often associated with spring. Usually spring is connected with new life, birth and rebirth. But leave it to writers to try to twist and challenge society's standard associations.

Poet gillian harding-russell writes: "Spring is an uncovering of old wounds."

If this is true, it's not that hard to connect spring with death. Although, death goes with any season.

Ashes to Ashes.

Did you know when you die you can have your ashes painted into a picture?

You can have them embedded into a man-made ocean reef. You can have them put into jewelry and given to a loved one to wear.

Motorcycle Memorials provides a whole line of motorcycle fuel tank urns.

Some people like to have their remains packed into shotgun shells and given to a hunter, who will presumably shoot them into a deer.

Check out Funeria for urns shaped like a rocket and others shaped like a cigar. Talk about putting fun back into the funeral.

Remember folks, coffins are not called coffins anymore. They're vessels.