There's been a Death, in the Opposite House Death Quotes

If anything deserves a capital D, it's capital D-eath. That's the biggie, isn't it? Even though the speaker of this poem might try to downplay it, it's obviously a, well, momentous occasion. If only because of all the hoopla that comes afterwards. And notice how exact the speaker is in identifying the freshness of the news, "as lately as Today." Just remember, he was there first with the news.

The intimacy and privacy of a mattress makes this act all the more shocking. It's almost as if the guts have been yanked out. And who knows what's on this mattress, as in bodily fluids and other yucky stuff. The kids skirt around it, for sure. No doubt they wonder if "It" died on that. It. It didn't take long for a person with a name and a place in the world to become just "It." The speaker admits he used to have such thoughts too when he was younger. Not anymore. Why? What does he know now that he didn't know then?

You have to remember that this is way before anyone brought their dearly departed to the Willow Glen Funeral parlor for a nice, sterile embalming. A lot of this poem focuses in on all the tasks associated with dealing with a death, and some of those aren't so pretty. This isn't your sentimental paean to the sorrows of loss. Nor is it a philosophical exploration of the nature of existence and the afterlife. This is business as usual in a small country town. Here the undertaker is described as "the Man of the Appalling Trade" because who would willingly choose to work with death like that? In this word is pall, to suggest pallbearers, also "appalling" means to pale, suggestive of the corpse itself.