Some August days are meant for a drive in the country. Fortunately, the climate catastrophe took a breath and I drove with my windows down through the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts to Dawes Cemetery, outside Cummington, to visit the grave of former Poet Laureate of the United States, Richard Wilbur.

Before I discovered that he was buried not far from my writing retreat, I didn’t know much about him. I knew he was a poet but could not have quoted even a line. So, after reviewing his poetry here are some I can recommend:

A Barred Owl starts out nice and sweet then turns gory.
The House describes a literal dream house.
and Two Voices in a Meadow which I only discovered after visiting his grave when I looked up the two lines engraved on his stone “Shatter me, great wind / I shall possess the field”.

Not sure how long I wandered around the cemetery. No one drove past and even though there were nearby farms I didn’t hear any machinery or engines. I thought about finding an empty plot and just lying down in the grass until it covered me.

While wandering I noticed a stone with little emblems affixed. When I checked it out I discovered the grave of former Secretary of State George Shultz from the corrupt Republican Reagan administration. He was also my college commencement speaker. We didn’t know he was going to speak at our graduation otherwise we would have a held a protest.

This may be the only cemetery with both a dead Poet Laureate and a dead Secretary of State.