In the Park

Death is the most prominent theme in Kumin’s “In the Park.” Introduced in the first two lines, the speaker establishes a popular tenant of Buddhism as related to what happens following one’s death: reincarnation. Rooted in the mysterious unknown, the poem recognizes that death (and what follows), regardless of who one is or what they believe in, is a surprise for everyone. While Kumin cites Buddhism in the second line, Kumin’s take on death isn’t necessarily tied to one religion. Rather, the poem explores death as a unifying event that all living beings partake in. This is exemplified in Stanza 2 with the story of Roscoe Black’s grizzly bear attack in Glacier National Park. Here, death is a heavy bear lying heart-to-heart on top of Black. Death seems imminent. Yet, the bear saunters off and Black lives.

As a theme, the preciousness of existence is repeatedly returned to. Stanza 3, which highlights the Old Testament’s characters and merging of worlds (the living and the afterlife; earth and the celestial), comments on what one knows about death through scripture or the past: “Heaven’s an airy Somewhere” (Line 23) and as for Hell, “little is made of it” (Line 25).