Earth Day in the Thanatopolis

Mountain View cemetery revisited in the Springtime, is a paradox almost surrational, as if it was a Surrealist conceit. A sprawling manicured sculpture park for the all but entirely forgotten and the totally forgot-- a landscape built on the grandiose narcissism of robber barons and on the humble grief of ordinary people.
Famous internees include Frank Norris whose novel McTeague looked at corruption in a city not far away, in fact visible from here. Here lies as well the remains of the murder victim known sensationally as The Black Dahlia, presumably in reunited form, perhaps a corset of some sort.

Naturally it is more appropriately atmospheric in the dimming light of Autumn. There are quite a lot of recreational visitors during Unholy Week around Hallowe'en and the Day of the Dead.

But it is a another green world of wonder in April and the metaphysical 3-D chessboard feeling remains vividly intact. 

1. The Thanatopolois

Once upon a time you could get a nice place

To wait for the End of Time

Married for all eternity

Landed members of the post mortem gentry

You don't get to choose your neighbors

Good taste is timeless

The church of one's self

Should the earth itself be destroyed in flame

Let no one in this world disturb my bones

Mine is the biggest

Flowers grow from the roof of a tomb

A glimpse of fellow Earth Day folk frolicking

Pivotal Mount Tamalpais in the distance

Heaven is in your mind

(that doesn't mean it's not "real")

2. The Marginal

This old tree has a noticeably odd personality

You get a little eerie living here, I suppose

This can't be good--I remember a viable pond here full of birdlife

I suspect that they are filling it in for more burial ground

Grave desecration....you hate to see that

And it's Easter time too

In years gone by, the birds frequented this lower pond

Neglect may predict a fate similar to that of the red pond above

These trees were here for two long centuries

Watching the dead being buried by the living

3. Final Thoughts

 I don't need no mansion on a hill

Maybe a little cottage in Hobbiton

 where I could rest for ever and ever

 In a nice quiet neighborhood

A happy ending for all

Earth Day, 22 April 2014