Death & Dying 301

Death & Dying 301

This is a poem from the book Fifth Season (pp. 81-96). David Matias self-published Fifth Season in 1995, and Provincetown Arts Press published it posthumously in 1998 as Volume VII of the Provincetown Poets series.

This poem is named after the class “Death & Dying 301,” an upper-level sociology course taught by Dr. Mike Kearl. The poem describes college friends and lovers, set against backdrops like a gay club on San Pedro Avenue and the Ruth Taylor Theater at Trinity University. At least some details are fictionalized. For example, while Death and Dying was a real class at Trinity, Dr. Kearl (called Dr. White in this poem) was never divorced. The poem says he died of cancer during Matias’ lifetime, but Dr. Kearl died of a heart attack in 2015.

David Matias

David Matias Papers

Elizabeth Huth Coates Library Special Collections, Trinity University

1998

Materials in this collection are the intellectual property of Coates Library and Trinity University. Please contact the library for permission to reproduce or reuse these materials.

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