When I was 20-something I wrote a collection of poems that I stapled together into a little booklet called The Squeaky Wheel. I don't know if I still have a copy of those youthful yearnings, but I do remember that one poem had a line about my eventual death that said: Sprinkle me from the Staten Island Ferry. I still wish to be cremated, but I certainly don't want to be floating around in New York Harbor (yuck!!!). No, I think I'd be happier out in the back forty.
Nevertheless, being frugal-minded as we now are, Cara thinks we should consider plots in the above-pictured cemetery--they go for about $200 a pop. It's a good deal, I've got to admit, and I walk up that way frequently. It's at the entrance to what's known as the Eldon Lyons Road (Eldon is the gentleman who owns the property--but not the graveyard). Oddly enough, I've also heard that road referred to as the Stairway to Heaven. I've encountered moose, deer, bears and beavers, so it's quite the natural habitat.
Have you heard of the Orthodox Jewish rapper from Brooklyn who goes by the name Matisyahu? He has a new CD out called Light that is worth a listen. There's one song--On Nature--that talks about coming from nature and returning to the dirt. A+ stuff.
I love all you people, so I hope the end isn't near, but I'd sure prefer the dirt to a mahogany box.
Have any of you up there ever watched Six Feet Under? When my cousin Matthew died a few years ago, Paulina and I both admitted (with a bit of embarrassment, fearing that our statements would trivialize the intense situation) that THE biggest thing that helped us gain a positive perspective and get through the whole horrible ordeal was what we drew from the series (concerning the inevitability of death, the necessity of living NOW, etc etc).
ReplyDeleteIn it, one of the characters was buried out in a clearing in the woods- no preserving agents, just him in a sac, contributing to the carbon cycle, totally at one with the earth. This post reminded me of that.
Truly- if you have the time and inclination (which you should), check it out.
Interesting that when I look at the cemetery and imagine you being buried in Maine it strikes me as so odd. For some reason I, and maybe most people, associate others with the place we first encountered them. I feel somehow that you would rest in Staten Island because that is where I met you first. And somehow Maine is merely a place you are staying until the next apartment we share. hmmm. I have no idea where I would want my final resting place to be, I probably haven't been there yet. BTW just a beautiful and haunting photograph.
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