Saturday morning, Motown (Saturday morning, Detroit)
forty-fives and thick seventy-eights (45 rpm and 78 rpm vinyl records)
on the phonograph, window fans (one on the turntable, box fans in the windows)
turning light into our rooms, (throwing light and shadows around our rooms)
we clean house to a spiral groove, (we clean house to a song on the turntable)
sorting through our dailiness— (going through our daily chores)
washtubs of boiled-white linens, (laundry tubs of clean, white sheets)
lima beans soaking, green as luck, (lima beans soaking for cooking, very green)
trash heaped out back for burning— (trash out back to be burned...)
everything we can’t keep, (...all the stuff we can't keep)
make new with thread or glue. (everything else we fix by sewing it or gluing it)
Beside the stove, a picture calendar (Beside the stove, a calendar with pics...)
of the seasons, daily scripture, (...of the seasons and a daily Bible verse)
compliments of the Everlast Interment (the calendar was given by Everlast...)
Company, one day each month marked (...Funeral Home, once a month marked...)
in red—PREMIUM DUE—collection visit (...in red "Premium Due" -- visit from...)
from the insurance man, his black suits (...the bill collector, his black suits...)
worn to a shine. In our living room (...are polyester (cheap) and so wear to a shine.)
he’ll pull out photos of our tiny plot, (In our living room, he puts photos of our grave)
show us the slight eastward slope, (showing us the hill our grave is on)
all the flowers in bloom now, how neat (all the flowers in bloom, the grass clipped)
the shrubs are trimmed, and see here, (bushes trimmed, and see here)
the trees we planted are coming up fine. (the trees we planted are growing well)
We look out for him all day, listen (We watch for him all day and listen...)
for the turn-stop of wheels (...for his car and the sound its wheels make...)
and rocks crunching underfoot. (and the sound of him walking up the gravel driveway)
Mama leafs through the Bible (Mom pages through the Bible...)
for our payment card—June 1969, (...for the monthly bill record for June 1969)
the month he’ll stamp PAID (He'll mark it "Paid"...)
in bright green letters, putting us (...in bright green ink, and we'll be...)
one step closer to what we’ll own, (...a step closer to owning...)
something to last: patch of earth, (...our future graves...)
view of sky. (...with a view of the sky.)
It's theme is death and dying. It's about a dirt-poor family who, in spite of being poor, is steadily, month-by-month, paying for their graves. I don't know what you mean by dramatics. If you mean imagery, then the imagery conveys the theme by setting a very real scene you can put yourself into -- you can hear the music, the fans blowing, the summer heat in a house without air condition. You can smell the laundry -- the detergent and the bleach -- and stuff cooking in the kitchen. You can hear the records playing, the crunch of rocks as the car pulls in the driveway, the mans feat as he walks to the door. You can see his worn out, cheap suit, and you can picture the family's future graves on the sloping hill that faces east, so the rising sun, in the cemetery. The author's use of imagery is very sensory. It puts you in the moment so you can feel this family living their day-to-day lives with a focus on death, like it will bring some sweet relief.