Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LAST MAN'S CLUB, by JAMES GALVIN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LAST MAN'S CLUB, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: My grandfather was always sad. Sadly, as a boy, he paddled his canoe
Last Line: After that he was never sad, not even when the river died
Subject(s): Death; Friendship; Hudson River; Life; Old Age; Dead, The


My grandfather was always sad. Sadly, as a boy, he paddled his canoe along the
beautiful Hudson River, which was only then beginning to die. During the first
war he was very sad in France because he knew he was having the time of his
life. When it was over everyone in America felt like a hero -- imagine.

Once a year on Armistice Day, he met with all his friends from the war. They
got drunk and recounted the stories of the time when they had thought they were
men and the world had seemed entirely possible. They placed empty chairs for
certain of the dead, and in the center of the table, a bottle of cognac from
France, for the last man of them to drink alone, in honor of the others.

Year after year they gathered to watch each other and themselves disappear, turn
into empty chairs. Sooner or later they all were sad. Some of them must have
realized they didn't need to join a club for this.

Finally it came down to my grandfather and a man named Oscar Cooper. Neither of
them wanted to outlive anyone. They couldn't remember what honor was. When
they drank the cognac it didn't taste like anything. They threw the bottle in
the river as if they thought it meant that neither of them was alive anymore.

When Cooper died the following year, my grandfather took his rifle out into the
yard and fired three shots at the sky. Then he went down to the river and drank
himself to sleep. After that he was never sad, not even when the river died.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net