"Any body can die, evidently. Few
Go happily, irradiating joy,
Knowledge, love. Many
Need oblivion, painkillers,
Quickest respite.
Sweet time unafflicted,
Various world:
X= your zenith."
This piece really shows the art of poetry. Pinsky went into a lot of thought to make all of these words align, and to actually have a meaning behind the words. It is one thing to write a poem with all of the letters in the alphabet, but it is another to have a purpose behind those words. Although the main concern is the layout of this poem the meaning is also very powerful. Death means different thing to different people, and it is interesting how Pinsky chose this topic to describe in very few words. Death is something that many people cannot describe because they have never experienced it, so his ability to put it in the small amount of words that he used is significant. By using this alphabet technique I feel like it takes some tension out of the subject. No longer is the main focus on death, instead it is on using the letter in the alphabet.
The one thing that I would obviously take from this poem is the layout of using all the letter in the alphabet. When I first saw this poem I thought it would be pretty simple to write something with only those letters in that specific order, but when I started jotting down ideas I started realizing how difficult it truly is. Pinsky put a lot of time and effort into this poem, and although there are few words to prove it, his message is powerful.
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