As the only species aware of its mortality, people have always had a morbid preoccupation with death. Our agrarian forefathers anthropomorphized their fear into the Grim Reaper, whose swipe symbolized the unexpected moment of life's end. Few of us own a scythe or know how to use one, but that swish still represents the surprise of hearing about someone's death and makes us tremble at the thought of how quickly we will pass into nonexistence. The now familiar Grim Reaper figure has outlasted four or five centuries, making appearances at costume balls and in New Yorker cartoons. He's forever here among us, maybe even sorting his socks, while providing fodder for black humor and verse. Both playful and somber, these poems improvise a traditional symbol, mocking the Reaper's mocking of our mortality.
As the only species aware of its mortality, people have always had a morbid preoccupation with death. Our agrarian forefathers anthropomorphized their fear into the Grim Reaper, whose swipe symbolized the unexpected moment of life's end. Few of us own a scythe or know how to use one, but that swish still represents the surprise of hearing about someone's death and makes us tremble at the thought of how quickly we will pass into nonexistence. The now familiar Grim Reaper figure has outlasted four or five centuries, making appearances at costume balls and in New Yorker cartoons. He's forever here among us, maybe even sorting his socks, while providing fodder for black humor and verse. Both playful and somber, these poems improvise a traditional symbol, mocking the Reaper's mocking of our mortality.
Joanne Lowery was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and educated at the University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin. Her poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including Birmingham Poetry Review, Poetry East, Cimarron Review, Eclipse, roger, Spoon River Poetry Review, and Smartish Pace. Her chapbook Diorama won the Poems & Plays Thirteenth Annual Chapbook Prize, and Call Me Misfit received the 2009 Frank Cat Press Chapbook Prize. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
