For Immediate Release
List of Top 15 US Poet’s Graves Released
Freeport, ME. - September 20, 2011- The rankings are in...the death march please.
After visiting his 225th poet’s grave the Dead Poet Guy has released the long-awaited list of the top 15 US poet's graves.
“It was really difficult to narrow it down to 15,” said Walter Skold, a poet and tombstone artist from Freeport, Maine, “But these really are the best examples of how moving, exquisite and fascinating many poet’s graves are”
“I have driven up mountains at midnight and wandered for hours around 19th-Century cemeteries to find graves that are rarely ever visited,” said Skold, the founder of the Dead Poets Society of America. “And in my 3 years and 30,000 miles of travel I’ve discovered that there is an abiding interest in poet’s graves among many people.”
A photo collection of the 15 gravesites, along with descriptions of what makes them so unique and important, can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravelight/sets/72157627056349762/
They were chosen based on a combination of factors, including historical importance, uniqueness and beauty of design, and overall surroundings.
The 225th grave documented was a Frost, but not the famous Frost of New England.
Skold admits a certain amount of personal bias in the rankings, based on his own experiences at the graves, but he claims he is the most-qualified to judge the matter since no other human he is aware of has visited 225 poets’ graves.
“My 4th son, Sam, said my feat was “ridic” and a world record," said Skold, “So I’ve decided to write Guinness to register my record.”
The top 15 graves are not ranked among themselves, but the Dead Poet Guy does have some favorites.
“If I had to narrow it down to my top 5 favorites, I would have to say John Boyle O’Reilly (Boston), Margaret Davidson (Saratoga Springs, NY), Carl Sandburg (Galesburg, IN), Nicholas Virgilio (Camden, NJ), and John Updike (Plowville, PA)” he said.
Besides working on a book of pictures of his tombstone art, Skold is also producing a film called “Finding Frost: Poets and Their Graves.”
“Out of the 225 graves I’ve had the privilege to visit, there was only 1 I was not able to find on the first visit,” said Skold, “And that is because I stayed in the huge cemetery after dark to find her, but was escorted out near midnight by 3 police cars.”
The Dead Poet Guy says visiting the graves of dead poets is a great way to learn fascinating things about history, literature, architecture, and love.
This October 7th Skold is leading an all-day tour of 6 poets’ graves in Massachusetts for the 2nd annual celebration of Dead Poets Remembrance Day. (See event blog: http://deadpoets.typepad.com/dprd-ne/oct-7-reading-schedule-in-ma.html)
Dead Poets Remembrance Day is a new national literary holiday that Skold, along with 20 State Poets Laureate, initiated in 2010. (http://deadpoes.org/DiaDead.html)
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Contact: Walter Skold, the Dead Poet Guy
What is Tombstone Art?
http://deadpoes.org/DPSDEADPOES.html
Dead Poets Society of America Photo Collection:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravelight/collections/72157613165736404/
