Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Grief Calls Us to the Things of This World" by Sherman Alexie offers a compelling glimpse into the complicated ways grief inhabits the mind and life, often lurking in the mundane, seemingly trivial facets of existence. Built upon an epigraph by Richard Wilbur that enigmatically states, "The morning air is all awash with angels . . .", the poem embarks on an exploration of grief and how it coexists with quotidian life.

The poem is set in an unexpected place-a bathroom in a five-star hotel-where the protagonist encounters a blue telephone. The setting is far removed from the realms of sanctity or spirituality where one usually encounters angels or confronts grief. This unconventional location amplifies the startling and intrusive nature of grief, which is capable of invading any space, no matter how incongruent.

The poem captures the essence of what it means to grapple with loss while still being tethered to the mundane aspects of life. The narrator ponders whom to call from the bathroom telephone-a plumber, proctologist, urologist, or priest? Each option is a manifestation of earthly concerns, from bodily functions to spiritual well-being. It's significant that the narrator chooses to call his father, noting that he "has been dead for nearly a year." The choice reflects how, even in a setting that evokes luxury and self-indulgence, thoughts of a deceased loved one can emerge uninvited.

The narrator's momentary lapse of memory about his father's death symbolizes the disorienting power of grief, which can both obscure and intensify memories. The mother's recounting of her own mistake-making instant coffee for her deceased husband as she has for twenty-seven years-serves as a poignant mirror to the narrator's forgetfulness. Both instances underline how routines, built over years, become almost ritualistic and are thrown into disarray by the loss of a loved one.

The use of angels as metaphors for grief is particularly noteworthy. Far from benevolent messengers or protectors, these angels "burden and unbalance us," "ride us piggyback," and "snare us / And haul us, prey and praying, into dust." They are relentless in their falling, mirroring the falling spirits of the grieving. The angels are a symbol for the all-encompassing nature of grief; they are omnipresent yet often go unnoticed until they strike with "their cold wings."

The diction in the poem also reflects this tension between the earthly and the divine, between life and death. Words like "telephone," "plumber," and "proctologist" coexist with "angels," "souls," and "dust," blurring the lines between two ostensibly disparate worlds. In this way, Alexie's poem captures the collision between the mundane and the ethereal that often occurs in moments of grief.

In its exploration of the unsettling and unpredictable nature of mourning, "Grief Calls Us to the Things of This World" creates a powerful narrative about human vulnerability and resilience. It shows that grief has the ability to infiltrate the most ordinary of settings and activities, reminding us that the experience of loss is a universal yet deeply personal one, capable of connecting the everyday with the eternal.

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