Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Sherman Alexie's "Memorial Day, 1972" is a haunting poem that navigates through the complexities of memory, history, and environmental degradation. Though sparse in wording, it is dense in meaning and contextual resonance, highlighting how private memories and experiences can be informed by broader social and environmental injustices. The poem's themes are reinforced by its structure, style, and poignant imagery.

The poem opens with the line "was too young to clean graves," immediately setting the stage for an environment entrenched in rituals and memorial practices. The speaker is too young to participate in the traditional, perhaps sacred, act of cleaning graves-a likely allusion to Memorial Day observances, which are meant to honor those who have died in military service. While the speaker is too young for this grave responsibility, what follows in the poem is a more dangerous exposure to mortality.

The speaker goes "into the uranium river / carrying the cat who later gave birth / to six headless kittens." Here, the stakes are immediately raised. Uranium, a radioactive element, is known for its disastrous environmental and health implications, especially in the context of the American West and Native American lands where uranium mining has often occurred. The consequence of the contact with uranium is the birth of "six headless kittens," a jarring image representing the tragic and deformed outcomes of environmental degradation.

This domestic scene becomes more horrifying within the context of Memorial Day, a day dedicated to remembering fallen soldiers. The poem subtly asks: who else, or what else, should be memorialized? The birth defects in kittens can be seen as an indirect result of human activities, perhaps even warfare or industrial practices involving radioactive material.

The poem concludes with an invocation: "O, Lord, remember, O, do remember me." This line serves as a poignant reminder of the human element amidst tragedies and environmental disasters. It could be a plea from the speaker, from the community, or even from the land itself. Given the poem's title, which includes the year 1972, the reader might also consider historical events from that time period, such as ongoing Cold War tensions and the Vietnam War, as part of the backdrop against which this personal memory unfolds.

Sherman Alexie's style in this poem is stark, with little embellishment. This lends a certain raw power to his words; there is no need for metaphor or ornate language when the reality is so striking. The simplicity also extends to the poem's structure: it's a brief, single-stanza poem, yet the weight of the narrative makes it feel much larger than it is.

"Memorial Day, 1972" serves as a testament to the complex interplay of memory, history, and environmental awareness. It reminds us that memorializing is not only an act of looking back but also an awareness and acknowledgment of the ongoing repercussions of the past in our present lives. It questions what we choose to remember and what gets overlooked, presenting a narrative that is both intimate and universal, deeply personal and broadly social. This powerful intersection of themes and layers of meaning make it a poem that resonates long after the last line is read.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...