Timed Writing 1

Kevin Young’s poem “The Mission” juxtaposes life and death through the use of imagery and structure. He describes children experiencing life right next to souls of those whose time has elapsed. Imagery of death, amidst a detailed description of the pleasures of the living, depicts both ends of a spectrum. Young invites the reader to reflect upon his own vision of the two, upon the efimerality of life.

Young introduces the poem “across the street from a home for funerals.” He sets the tone for a conversation about the banality of death. In front of the funeral house, “soul after soul she watched pour into the cold New England Ground.” The culmination of one’s time on earth is no longer a surprise but an expected part of routine. Likewise, the structure of the poem reflects the continuation of this imagery, almost as if every couplet was a “soul after soul.” In a similar manner, Young juxtaposes the sun of the living with the cold ground of the dead. It is interesting that the author depicts as souls going down into the cold ground, for it challenges the usual depiction of a blazing inferno beneath.

Likewise, young introduces children as the symbol of innocence. He remembers, “back there” when he was a child, “[paying] tag out front, while the bodies snuck in the back.” His reference to children is especially powerful when combined with free verse, for it foreshadows their liberty in choosing what to make out of their life. They begin their life as others come to an end behind their backs. However, to Young as well as every other being, the time comes when the realization of death corrodes this vision of a gay life. It becomes a custom, a reason to wear old suits, “praying they still fit.” Death becomes so banal that that “most laughed despite themselves.” People have succumbed to its reality and resign themselves in expectation for their moment.

In effect, it is as if our clocks had broke and “always read three.” We have lost notion of the importance of time. In his use of the imagery of time, Young plays with the limited time we have under the sun before we head to the shivering depth of the ground. It is as if when “the sun is too bright. Your eyes adjust.” These words convey our conformity. We have simply adjusted to the sorrows of death forcing it through a metamorphosis to the mundane. At the end, “the cars fill & start to edge out,” signaling the end of a cycle. The poem begun with their arrival and culminates with their departure, playing with the idea of cycles. The last words read: “I could not see to see.” Young finalizes with the loss of his sight, he has become one more of the numbed spectators of life. He began to realize when he poured down to the cold ground. His understanding did not come in time to illuminate his sight when he should have seen.