The Death of Sherwood Anderson
by Bill Yarrow
He was on a cruise ship eating hors d'oeuvres
when he swallowed the green toothpick
which punctured his intestine causing the
peritonitis which corrupted his blood and
catapulted him into an alien grave. Or was it
bald sadness? Unhappiness upended by
misery? Desolation made grey by despair?
Whatever the cause, he died, like the Bible in
Mauritania, like a mouse in a vial of ammonia,
like a retired coal miner on vacation in the Alps,
like novelty in a nursing home, like streptococcus
in outer space, like panache in sundered life.
when he swallowed the green toothpick
which punctured his intestine causing the
peritonitis which corrupted his blood and
catapulted him into an alien grave. Or was it
bald sadness? Unhappiness upended by
misery? Desolation made grey by despair?
Whatever the cause, he died, like the Bible in
Mauritania, like a mouse in a vial of ammonia,
like a retired coal miner on vacation in the Alps,
like novelty in a nursing home, like streptococcus
in outer space, like panache in sundered life.
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Author's Note
This poem first appeared in Cabaret Voltage Online #1 in 2008.
The poem appears in Pointed Sentences (BlazeVOX, 2012).
Other stories by Bill Yarrow
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Big admirer of Sherwood Anderson. Did not know this story.
Big plus fave.
Love this.
I like the soft approach to the opening - just before the piece almost turns on itself in the middle section. Strong. That's great, Bill. Solid wat to close. Nice.
Bill, this is fantastic. Brilliant. "like a retired coal miner on vacation in the Alps." Yes!
Oh, such similes! Great stuff.
Form, content, and literary history: reading your poetry, Bill, is not only enjoyable, it furthers my education, thanks. Sherwood Anderson influenced Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Salinger, and Amos Oz? And he died after swallowed a toothpick, presumably in a martini olive? I must remember to avoid doing that.
There's a great sadness underlying the lightheartedness here. Very nicely done.
Without knowing Sherwood Anderson's story, I liked this piece. Lot of dependence on simile in the last section (Anderson-style?). Also, I think "like novelty in an old-age home" would read better with the more alliterative "like novelty in a nursing home."
Your adjacent similes toward the end create clashing images, but to interesting effect.
Language galore and placed without flaw each word. Man, not to mention the fact that Anderson makes for a great tragic figure. Hemingway done that man wrong. Plain and simple.