The User's Guide to Onomatopoetic Elegies<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Juked"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <LINK REL="stylesheet" HREF="/css/913articles.css" TYPE="text/css"> <LINK REL="shortcut icon" HREF="/favicon.ico" TYPE="image/x-icon"> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" SRC="/js/articles.js"></SCRIPT> </HEAD><BODY LEFTMARGIN="0" TOPMARGIN="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" RIGHTMARGIN="0" BOTTOMMARGIN="0" MARGINWIDTH="0" STYLE="border:0; text-align:center; background-color:#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="900" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR>  <TD WIDTH="680" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left" BGCOLOR="#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="30" VALIGN="middle" ALIGN="left" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <A HREF="/index.html" CLASS="nav">home</A> | <A HREF="/info/" CLASS="nav">info</A> | <A HREF="/moment/" CLASS="nav">moment</A> | <A HREF="/archive/" CLASS="nav">archive</A> | <A HREF="/print/" CLASS="nav">print</A> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0" STYLE="padding-right:30px"> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="80" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" ALIGN="left" CLASS="header"> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*" ALIGN="right" CLASS="header" > 01.2008 </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="8" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" STYLE="padding-top:7px; padding-bottom:7px" CLASS="title"> The User's Guide to Onomatopoetic Elegies </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" CLASS="byline"> by <A HREF="/info/912bios/kristene.asp" CLASS="authorlink">Kristen Eliason</A> </A> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="20" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" CLASS="text" STYLE="padding-bottom:30px"><DIV CLASS="textpoemholder"> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><I>And should we die before our journey's through,</I></P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><I>Happy day! All is well!</I></P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="105" ALIGN="left">—William Clayton</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">it's viewings, not funerals I won't attend anymore</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">and what bothers me is not the trail of people who</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">have to touch a clammy hand to satisfy this head knell</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="30" ALIGN="left">but it is this: my eight-year-old brother still blonde</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">with finger-length curls started meowing</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">at me when I should have been terrified of the boxed body</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="30" ALIGN="left">across the room. (and not in any normal fashion) he mewed</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">with clarity and volume against shuffling masses</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">reading the audience card in whispers, "he was a good man,"</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">and piercing, like god, so only I could hear it, and maybe my mother</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">who only shifted in her floral-print whatever it was.</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="30" ALIGN="left">my brother, now a small cat padding across the room in full march, <I>come</I>,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><I>come ye saints</I>, the actual tune equated to meow mix, he</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">leaned his head on my knee and at my reddening only meowed</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">softer, approximating a kitten gondolier for the dead, <I>come, come ye,</I></P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="30" ALIGN="left">paced a warbling line between the bodied room and a row</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">of folding chairs, <I>no toil nor labor fear</I>, he looked at me coyly</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">and started verse three, with his back toward my now</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="30" ALIGN="left">shushing mother, and so quietly again to the chair, to my</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">legs, to the ground and the underground and the hell under,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">he meowed, <I>happy day, all is well</I>, the part for parts left to</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">beetles, cockroaches, companions of crypts is this too much</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">here too much to say, that i hope they clicked their little</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">antennae in time, they mulched in the dirge of earth, rhythmically</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">praising the newly blessed place and company</P> </DIV> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="*" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD>  <TD WIDTH="182" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" BGCOLOR="#677358"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR>  <TD VALIGN="top" HEIGHT="420" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <IMG SRC="/images/913/article-logo.jpg" BORDER="0" USEMAP="#sideimage" WIDTH="182"> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD VALIGN="bottom" ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="*" CLASS="sidebottom" STYLE="padding-bottom:40px"> Thoughts? <A HREF="mailto:info@juked.com?subject=Feedback" CLASS="sidelink">Tell us</A>. </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left" BGCOLOR="#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="30" VALIGN="top" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="*" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR>  <TR> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="900" HEIGHT="56"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="56" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="680" HEIGHT="56" VALIGN="middle" ALIGN="right" STYLE="background-color:#FFFFEE; padding-bottom:4px" CLASS="bottom"> Copyright © 1999-2012 <I>Juked</I><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="50"> </TD> <TD WIDTH="182" BGCOLOR="#677358"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="38" STYLE="background-color:#FFFFEE; padding-bottom:4px"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR>  </TABLE> <MAP NAME="sideimage"> <AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="0,0,182,83" HREF="/index.html"> </MAP> </DIV> </BODY> </HTML>