Deceased

Deceased - meaning Summary

Grief and Grim Irony

The poem compresses a single fatal outcome into a stark urban image: a man from Harlem is sent home in a coffin. It juxtaposes blunt physical detail with an unsettling revelation about his death—what should comfort or numb him was actually poison—creating a bitter ironic twist. The brief lines convey sudden loss, communal mourning, and the harshness of life in a single, elliptical snapshot.