5 3/4 x 4 1/8 inches, collage, mixed media and wax on paper.

Curious stories get more connected… In a continuing string of coincidences I was mailed a link to a letter from Melinda Hunt, in response to an editorial by Lawrence Downes in the New York Times. Alston Anderson, writer and critic, friend of Robert Graves, and many other notable poets, writers and artists of his time, died in 2008 with no one, no family, no friends to claim his body. He was buried at Hart Island: No. 10, Plot 333, Section III. Through a “program that tracks down the remains of indigent veterans and provides them proper military burials,” Alston Anderson, a WWII veteran, was disinterred and reburied at Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island. That is where my dad is interred as well. After searching the internet for more information about Mr. Anderson, I found a flickr post that showed the cover of the book, Lover Man. I had a nice exchange with ala3letter both on and off flickr, only to find out his real name is François. My father’s name is Francis.

For the continuing A Book About Death exhibits, this next one in South Carolina, I was moved to create a postcard in remembrance of Alston Anderson. There must have been many who loved him in his lifetime, where can they be?

May 2011 A Book About Death ~ Memento, Phoenix, AZ