Tombstones in the Starlight by Dorothy Parker

Poems Exhumed From the Graves of Six Different Individuals

May 6, 2009

Tombstones in the Starlight is separated into six parts, about six individual characters, of which Dorothy Parker devotes four lines of verse.

Strolling through a graveyard at night, Dorothy Parker inhales the vapors emanating from the mounds of dirt, that lay before the tombstones; channeling the departed’s life stories; some tragic; some humorous; all well versed.

As was Dorothy Parker’s raison d'être, the ability to quickly read, and interpret people, their intentions, foibles, and amusing egoism; Tombstones in the Starlight, proved the people need not be alive to receive the Dorothy Parker treatment.

It seems the poet in question, had but little attention to hang his career on; and therefore chose to end his life, in a manner either metaphorically or literally.

Supposing there is a place called hell, and those who do wrong will be damned to spend eternity in a place born of their worst nightmares. Perhaps, this is the root theory that lies behind the pretty lady’s fate; as she apparently enjoyed her warm embraces, and amorous affections; and she also despised the cold.

Mrs. Parker seems to relish the thought of this rich man lying beneath the ground, equalized by the anonymity his situation.

This passage is classic Dorothy Parker. Just short of being a limerick; Mrs. Parker sets up a perfectly straight forward scenario about a fisherwoman’s fine companion, before bringing it home with the punchline:

As a matter of fact, a pattern does seem to emerge regarding Tombstones in the Starlight; each piece of the puzzle is written essentially as a joke; a set-up and a punchline. Consider The Crusader, as an example of a stanza, or a vignette within a vignette; composed in such a manner, as to prevent one from extracting a single line; the set-up is thirty words; the punchline, one word:

VI. The Actress

Again, the wit of Dorothy Parker is on full display in the final entry, about an actress who enjoyed much fame in her lifetime; but, that’s not what interests Mrs. Parker.

My land is bare of chattering folk; the clouds are low along the ridges, and sweet's the air with curly smoke from all my burning bridges.

I wish I could drink like a lady; I can take one or two at the most; Three and I'm under the table; Four and I'm under the host.

The copyright of the article Tombstones in the Starlight by Dorothy Parker in American Poetry is owned by Martin G. Wood. Permission to republish Tombstones in the Starlight by Dorothy Parker in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.