GRAVE QUARTET | LAURENCE DAVIES I Largo ponderoso Beneath this 892 lb slab of choice Carrara marble lie the mortal parts of FELBY TOMPKINS whose spirit passed elsewhere January 29, 2015, in the 67th year of his life. Chairman of the Board, Pantechnicon, Inc.; Perpetual Vice President, Ubiquity, Managed Food, and Pitchblende Corporations; Honorary Secretary, Better the Stock and Thoughtful Development Societies; Founder of the movements Scour the Land!, Cents Mean Sense, and Speak English Now; Treasurer, Your Brother’s Keeper and Belief in Business. An outspoken Member of the Governor’s Council on Policy, a vigilant Trustee of Myring Academy, an unswerving Elder of the First Church of Adamston, Owner of the Nashua (later Tucson) Snowshoe Hares, always ready with a maxim or a joke, a zealous Employer, an ever-present Husband, and a Father we can not forget. This memorial set up by his children and employees. As long as rivers run and hills remain, let it stand guard. II Andantino maestoso In your soul, cherish BELLA ROSKIES. Born Providence, 1949 Died East Providence, 2023 Her goodness was a skein of deeds. On 879 successive Sundays she let her invalid elder sister win at Chinese checkers; on 1,273 successive Tuesdays, she called her brother in Atlanta to ask how was his degenerative gum condition; on 1,516 successive Fridays, she wrote a check to Save the Wetlands because heron blue and green were her favorite colors, marshes her favorite landscape. And during all those weeks, she taught New Americans the rudiments of English from alien to zone; she drove tuna loaf, creamed spinach, and sausage lasagna for Meals on Wheels, she read two newspapers every day and told the editors when she was not pleased. Eighteen righteous women and eighteen righteous men are the pillars of the universe; she stood among them in her time. She now is dust, and we are dust without her kind. III Tarantella In fragrant memory of TUCKER HARTSHORN 1993-2025 Three times victor of the TransAntarctica, winner of the Bering Straits Butterfly, only survivor of the first Empty Quarter Five Dunes and a Boulder Event, who entered the race everlasting when an avalanche caught him ultra-skiing in Patagonia near the Towers of Paine. ‘He outstrips the cherubs’ Also of his beloved companion ADRIANO VACELLI 1979-2026 Whose edition of the Midler diaries stunned us all. Twice named Redactor of the Year, Prize Medallist of the Bibliometric Society of America, and recipient of the Stavic Prize for e-mail scholarship, his latest chapter closed while working at his terminal. ‘Good to the last dot’ Erected 2045 by Marriage of True Minds, replacing the original wooden markers. IV Allegro vivace FINCH Born thirty-four years before, died nine years after the Breaking, on Rosa 21st, tenth anniversary of her victory in the Battle of the Bourse. Didn’t hold with stones or brasses, renounced her other names. On Joan 5th, we scattered her ashes over Cold Hollow Mountain, right where she hid during the Separation and trained us for the Storming. She suffered twenty-seven wounds and countless allegations; she had ninety-nine disguises but one resolve; she made a thousand speeches, all of them short. After the Breaking, she knit our country’s bones, cleansed its flesh, and healed its spirits. Everywhere in battle, nowhere in retreat, now she is everywhere again. Carved in the ice of Bobcat Falls by comrades Akiko, César, Harriet, and Walt -- Emma 12th, 10 A.B. Laurence Davies was born in the Irfon Valley of Wales and resides in Glen Ericht, Scotland. He is the editor of The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad. Tip Jar | Bookstore | More by Laurence DaviesWritersFund.htmlhttp://astore.amazon.com/contrary-20http://www.contrarymagazine.com/Contrary/Laurence-Davies.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2
COMMENTARY | POETRY | FICTION | CHICAGO ARCHIVES | ABOUT | SUBMISSIONS | BOOKSHOP | DONATE | CONTACT | SHAREArchives.htmlContrary.htmlSubmissions.htmlBookshop.htmlWritersFund.htmlContact.htmlhttp://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=152&winname=addthis&pub=contrary&source=men-152&lng=en-us&s=undefined&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contrarymagazine.com%2F&title=Contrary%20Magazine&logo=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contrarymagazine.com%2Fcontramazon.jpg&logobg=F5F4F4&logocolor=&ate=AT-contrary/-/-/4b3771ea6b8ea1a5/1/4b329e0c06baac67&uid=4b329e0c06baac67&CXNID=2000001.5215456080540439074NXC&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contrarymagazine.com%2FContrary%2FAutumn-2009.html&tt=0shapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5shapeimage_3_link_6
http://www.contrarymagazine.com/

© 2010  |  all rights reserved

about us  |  xml feed  |  Contrary ® is a registered trademark of Contrary Magazine  |  donate $1  | contact us

WINTER 2011 SENESCENCE KELLY DAVIO GRAVE QUARTET LAURENCE DAVIES DEAR ODYSSEUS: THREE POEMS NICELLE DAVIS A FUNERAL EDWARD Mc WHINNEY EVERY GRAIN EVERY HAIR JANE WILLIAMS MY QUOTA OF JOY VICCY ADAMS RECENT AWARD WINNERS REBECCA LEHMANN SHERMAN ALEXIE MEREDITH MARTINEZ REVIEWS ROLAND BARTHES SUSAN FRODERBERG THE BRITISH SHORT STORY KATE BERNHEIMER THOMAS ESPEDAL VOICES AT THE WORLD’S EDGE Winter_2011.htmlSenescence_Kelly_Davio.htmlSenescence_Kelly_Davio.htmlDear_Odysseus_Nicelle_Davis.htmlDear_Odysseus_Nicelle_Davis.htmlA_Funeral_Edward_Mc_Whinney.htmlA_Funeral_Edward_Mc_Whinney.htmlEvery_Grain_Every_Hair_Jane_Williams.htmlEvery_Grain_Every_Hair_Jane_Williams.htmlViccy_Adams_My_Quota_of_Joy.htmlViccy_Adams_My_Quota_of_Joy.htmlhttp://www.contrarymagazine.com/Contrary/Factory.htmlSherman_Alexie_Census.htmlhttp://www.contrarymagazine.com/Contrary/Love.htmlReviews.htmlRoland_Barthes_Mourning_Diary.htmlSusan_Froderberg_Old_Border_Road.htmlBritish_Short_Story_Liggins_Munder_Robbins.htmlKate_Bernheimer_Horse_Flower_Bird.htmlTomas_Espedal_Tramp.htmlVoices_at_the_Worlds_Edge.htmlshapeimage_5_link_0shapeimage_5_link_1shapeimage_5_link_2shapeimage_5_link_3shapeimage_5_link_4shapeimage_5_link_5shapeimage_5_link_6shapeimage_5_link_7shapeimage_5_link_8shapeimage_5_link_9shapeimage_5_link_10shapeimage_5_link_11shapeimage_5_link_12shapeimage_5_link_13shapeimage_5_link_14shapeimage_5_link_15shapeimage_5_link_16shapeimage_5_link_17shapeimage_5_link_18shapeimage_5_link_19shapeimage_5_link_20shapeimage_5_link_21shapeimage_5_link_22