Eumolpus
Eumolpus
May 26, 2017

DEATH DON’T YOU DARE

It is not death I fear-
I have, after all, come to terms
With nightly visits to its dreamy sidekick,
Where I have no free will.
My brain concocts a landscape
Of unfamiliar collages, unremembered;
Why should death be any different?

At my bedside is the fantastic fairy tale
I’m reading, I have a few chapters left...
And how will it all end?
Will it be bacchanal, an extravaganza?
Or philosophizing not so happily ever after?
You must agree for this alone I need to be alive.
But to die in the middle of the story,
O come on now Death, no reason for cruelty!
How could you send me into that starry oblivion
Not knowing if the magic spell was broken?

And yes, I’m off to the concert hall again
Yet another Resurrection Symphony;
I’m urgently trying to cop the magic moments,
Like passport stamps, or vouchers.
There is still space in the carry-on luggage
That I’m packing to be with me in the grave.

But also, I keep on reminding myself,
Day after day, I keep on reminding myself,
It’s been 50 years since I read Rimbaud or Blake.
I must go back and have them fresh in my head
Before I’ll accept anything as singularly disruptive
As death.

About This Poem

Last Few Words: I don't know if people still use the verb "to cop". In my time, it was term buy something illegal, like "cop some weed" or to adopt a sour mood, like "cop an attitude". Here I'm using it in the first sense.

Editing Stage: Editing - rough draft

About the Author

Country/Region: Washington DC

Favorite Poets: D.Thomas

More from this author

Comments

jane210660

I took this as a humerous, tongue in cheek poem. A frivolous take on our mortality.
I love the idea of death (not) cheating you out of your last read.
Like the touches like 'another Ressurection Symphony' and the idea of packing as much as you can in.
I really enjoyed this and have no crit to offer.
Jx

vandiemenspeak

Is an Australianism - definitely a verb, used as in you'll have to cope with that sweetly, my friend" - or " cop it sweet mate.
I love the comparison of with death's "poor cousin" sleep in the first verse, and this poem has a funny ironic and defiant tone from the outset. i enjoyed how you need to pack your carry on luggage with as many trinkets as you can, before being shuffled off, how Rimbaud and Blake must be gathered up like cherished things, thrown into the forefront of consciousness before the grim reaper has his way, ans as you say spoils the end of the story.
Funny, irreverent and an ironic tone, though not a hopeless, if philosophical one like Larkin's "Aubade" (don't get me wrong, I love his treatment of the subject at hand, and implore everyone to read this any time the subject is broached in poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48422 ). There is much to enjoy here Eumo, and I'll have to give it another read in the morning.

Thank you.

Chris.

Eumolpus

For taking the time to find that Larkin Poem and bookmark it for me. That's a good poem for sure.
Larkin is very on my list of poets I must revisit. And I will get to him too, like I will to Blake and Rimbaud. (these were guys I did major thesis on, fifty fucking years ago!) I better put Larkin high on the list...

Eumolpus

I just got goosebumps listening to your reading. I am just...wow...you have a really great deep and
expressive voice. I will surely cherish this. Surely you can post it, what an honor.

My name is Mark, but I love the pen name. Mark was originally named for Mars, god of war, and I've never been a big fan of the apostles... I love the Satyricon poet Eumolpus. Besides the book, he plays a great role in the Fellini version, one of my all time favorite films.

I do understand playing with poems as prose. I've been doing it very recently with EE Cummings,
and in its own way...it works!

Again, with very much appreciation!
"Mark Eumolpus"

A

and reminder of what is sure to come. I hate those snippets of sleep that presage death, and that's why I am an early riser. I would hate for my wife to wake up before I do and call the mortician, lol.
Ali

Eumolpus

and in truth, I am actually going to a performance of Mahler's 2nd, "the resurrection" next week at kennedy center. If you don't know it, by the end 300 people playing and singing in a blast of sound...a cheap magic moment, but you get a receipt.

themoonman

a slippery subject handled with
eloquence, humor and a pressing
need to "get it all in" ... loved this and
Jess' reading. Your final line was so
colorfully unique all I could do is shake
my head ... thank you !!!