This book was written in 1915 by Edgar Lee Masters. In 1969, a TV movie was made with some of the free verse poems from the book. That’s when I first heard of this. I absolutely loved it. The poems were epitaphs of people buried in the cemetery of Spoon River, and were recited by various well-known actors. I checked out the book in the library and read all the poems. I later bought a copy of the book. I recently tried to find the movie to either stream or buy. It was listed as being on MUBI, but when I went to the site, it was unavailable. Here are a few of my favorites…
Judge Somers
How does it happen, tell me,
That I who was most erudite of lawyers,
Who knew Blackstone and Coke
Almost by heart, who made the greatest speech
The court-house ever heard, and wrote
A brief that won the praise of Justice Breese—
How does it happen, tell me,
That I lie here unmarked, forgotten,
While Chase Henry, the town drunkard,
Has a marble block, topped by an urn,
Wherein Nature, in a mood ironical,
Has sown a flowering weed?
Knowlt Hoheimer
I was the first fruits of the battle of Missionary Ridge.
When I felt the bullet enter my heart
I wished I had staid at home and gone to jail
For stealing the hogs of Curl Trenary,
Instead of running away and joining the army.
Rather a thousand times the county jail
Than to lie under this marble figure with wings,
And this granite pedestal
Bearing the words, “Pro Patria.”
What do they mean, anyway?
William and Emily
There is something about Death
Like love itself!
If with some one with whom you have known passion,
And the glow of youthful love,
You also, after years of life
Together, feel the sinking of the fire,
And this fade away together,
Gradually, faintly, delicately,
As is were in each other’s arms,
Passing from the familiar room—
That is a power of unison between souls
Like love itself!
Mrs. Sibley
The secret of the stars,--gravitation.
The secret of the earth,--layers of rock.
The secret of the soil,--to receive seed.
The secret of the seed,--the germ.
The secret of man,--the sower.
The secret of the woman,--the soil.
My secret: Under a mound that you shall never find.