Vincent J. Tomeo’s reflective poetry collection MY CEMETERY FRIENDS: A Garden of Encounters at Mount Saint Mary in Queens, New York strolls through a graveyard full of stories.
Tomeo visits his mother in the cemetery in New York City, chronicling encounters with people visiting lost loved ones and memorializing the dead while exhuming the history behind the graves. This unique book pays homage to the spirit of the strangers he comes across and the souls of those buried there, championing the unnamed, celebrating life, and contemplating loss.
The book blends prose and poetry, recounting stories about his visits to the cemetery as a framework for setting up poems he was inspired to write. For instance, he remembers his mother before paying tribute to her with a pair of poems and leaves some verse that honors the service and sacrifice of a Purple Heart recipient on his headstone.
Both prose and poetry imagine what the deceased were like when they still were among the living. They also reflect on what they meant to their loved ones, considering the death of a two-year-old boy or the sacrifices of Vietnam War veterans. The prose is heartfelt and earnest, though at times bordering on sentimental in passages like this: “My encounters with people have caused me to ponder over questions on life, death, and legacy, which I had never thought much about before. What an enjoyable experience to have had such a good friend.” The poetry is more restrained and elliptical but just as expressive: “A moon casts shadows of dancing clouds, / music ambles drunk with sorrow.” It vividly evokes the somber tranquility of the setting, trafficking in mood and feeling.
The poems are concise, direct, and to the point. They’re lyrical, but with a clipped and controlled precision and economy of words. The language is palpable. It brings scenes to life with detailed, evocative passages like “Their leaves sway like hair in the breeze of many colors. Even fresh dirt smells clean. Life is everywhere.” “Crucified for Instance” is one of the most gritty, gruesome takes on the story of Jesus Christ, itemizing all the damage done. “Memorial Day is Every Day” captures the hollow void left by grief with memorable imagery, likening a lost loved one to “a shadow I cannot hold.”
The writing also delivers memorable turns of phrase, characterizing cemeteries as living museums where history unfolds or an art museum where one can admire the stained-glass windows in an ornate mausoleum on a cold winter’s day. The poem “Tiffany’s Colored Fantasy Glass of Corona” compares it to Tiffany glass, further developing the imagery in an example of how the poetry and prose are in conversation with each other throughout the work.
The serene finality of the setting prompts the author to ponder trees, the changing of seasons, quiet moments (e.g., families picnicking), and his own mortality. Introspective to its core, the book tells a highly personal story but attains great poignancy that transcends mere musings. It’s a powerful work of remembrance, a thoughtful meditation on how fleeting life can be and what fate has in store. Overall, this contemplative poetry collection is a walk among the tombstones that won’t soon be forgotten.
Vincent J. Tomeo’s contemplative poetry collection MY CEMETERY FRIENDS: A Garden of Encounters at Mount Saint Mary in Queens, New York meditates on life, death, fate, and chance encounters. The collection of poems and prose populating the graveyard where Tomeo’s mother was buried is both personal and universal.
~ Joseph Pete for IndieReader