Death Poems

[Bob Martin]

In junior high a classmate of mine, Danny Callaghan, a roughian and class clown, claims to have written this haiku for an English class. He died in college, performing a one-and-a-half forward flip while drunk into a pool he did not realize had been emptied. I still can't believe he wrote it, although I hope he did. I haven't been able to find it online.

     Death is beautiful,
     Else why does summer die so,
     Garbed in flaming gold?

[AlanSummers]

Dear Bob,

What a tragic loss, so many people die or become paraplegic when diving into pools, manmade or natural, without checking, just trusting.

Thanks for sharing his verse.

warmest regards,

Alan

In junior high a classmate of mine, Danny Callaghan, a roughian and class clown, claims to have written this haiku for an English class. He died in college, performing a one-and-a-half forward flip while drunk into a pool he did not realize had been emptied. I still can't believe he wrote it, although I hope he did. I haven't been able to find it online.

     Death is beautiful,
     Else why does summer die so,
     Garbed in flaming gold?

[DavidGrayson]

I recently received in the mail the autumn issues of both Modern Haiku and Frogpond. I’ve noticed that in a typical issue of any haiku journal, there are usually poems about the topic of dying. This is no surprise––considering the centrality of death in our experience.

After reading through the two issues, these are the haiku and senryu that stayed with me:

From Frogpond 38:3:

funeral service
the comment of an infant
fills the church

- William Hart (p. 11)


coffin display
the various prices
of absence

funeral service so many dying flowers

- George Swede (p. 41)


From Modern Haiku 46.3:

Omaha Beach
the sound of wave
after wave

- Bill Kenney (p. 67)


Are there any death poems, or poems related to any aspect of dying, that you’ve written or come across recently?

[AlanSummers]

I would imagine most poetry forms deal with dying and death, in at least one case a whole poetry collection by a renowned US poet was about dying.   The name escapes me but I could find out.

Some of you may see the allusion to a much loved novelist with this haiku:


my inevitable death mayflies

Snibril Fray
Publication Credit: Bones 6 (March 15, 2015)


warm regards,

Alan