“Requiem
It came to me the other day:
Were I to die, no one would say,
“Oh, what a shame! So young, so full
Of promise — depths unplumbable!”
Instead, a shrug and tearless eyes
Will greet my overdue demise;
The wide response will be, I know,
“I thought he died a while ago.”
For life’s a shabby subterfuge,
And death is real, and dark, and huge.
The shock of it will register
Nowhere but where it will occur.”
- John Updike
John, you would have been right if this poem was never published.
Filed under: last green valley | Tags: A & P, big box, John Updike, killingly, Killingly Connecticut, killingly plaza, nerd, New York Times, research, wikipedia
It is strange that every time I read about the death of a well-known person I need to check wikipedia. I’m not sure if I am verifying the death or looking to be the one who announces it to the community of editors and so-called lazy researchers. (I think wikipedia is one of the best resources for daily living and basic research.)
I learned today from the Times that John Updike died this afternoon at the age of 76. A & P has always been one of my favorite short stories. I reread the story after reading about Updike’s death and I imagined myself as the narrator of the story standing behind one of the registers at the Killingly Plaza A & P (turned Stop & Shop, turned empty & eternally for lease).
