Alben William Barkley’s Grave

The sky was bluer than usual this morning as I drove to Paducah, Kentucky. No clouds and fewer trees as I crossed fields of corn and soybeans. The sky was so blue I could almost pick out the brightest stars being overwhelmed by the sun.

My mission was to add Alben Barkley to my Dead Vice Presidents collection. I kept my car windows up for fuel efficiency even though the temperatures were nice and cool and when I opened my door at Mount Kenton Cemetery, my face was caressed by the smell of freshly mown grass but with an extra timbre. I’m guessing it was bluegrass since this is Kentucky.

Except for the historical marker outside the cemetery entrance, there was no indication that the man buried here was a Vice President. It’s a very unassuming grave in a very unassuming cemetery.

Barkley was Vice President for Harry Truman when they famously upset Thomas Dewey in the 1948 election. He is the oldest man to be elected Vice President and the only one to get married while in office. (To a woman half his age so there’s still hope for me.)

With VP Barkley now safely in my collection, I have 32 of the 42 dead Vice Presidents.

About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, a collection of poets in the Triangle region of North Carolina where he has hosted a monthly feedback workshop for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he lives and writes poetry.

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