Grieving through Poetry

          The book Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertage is a story about a 14-year-old boy, Kevin, using poetry in a way to come to terms with his mother’s death and pass the time while missing out on baseball.  Kevin is sick with mono and at the beginning of the book is unsure what to do with his time, it is when he happens upon a book of poetry belonging to his father that he begins to write.  Kevin soon finds that writing helps him come to terms with the losses in his life.

            The first glimpse we get of Kevin’s mother is when he briefly remembers her taking care of him when he was sick as a child (20).  He mentions that his father checks on him now, but that, “It’s not the same” (20).  This small reference to his mother lets the reader now just how much Kevin misses his mother and has not fully acknowledged her death.  We do not even know how she dies until later in the book but we know it was due to an illness as the Pantuom for Mom (29) mentions “angry blood.”  The very next page Kevin writes, “You’re a great mom.  Were.  You were a great mom.”  Kevin is beginning to go through a grieving process while acknowledging how wonderful his mother was. 

            Throughout the book Kevin reflects on what his mother would think of him and wants to make her proud.  When he lies to the team about being too tired to go for pizza but it’s really because he doesn’t want to “sit at the wrong end of the table with the losers” (63).  He becomes embarrassed when he realizes that what he is thinking isn’t nice and “Mom hated it when I wasn’t nice.”  Later he remembers how his mom used to hold her arm out for him, Kevin is still grieving and longing for his mother’s touch to comfort him in his times of need.  Kevin’s dad is also trying to make his late wife proud by practicing his Spanish.  It is when he admits this to Kevin that stronger, more open bond is made.

            Kevin has had to be strong not only for himself, but for his dad as well.  The two never seem to talk about their feelings involving the loss of Kevin’s mother.  Kevin doesn’t have to be strong when he writes poetry, he is free to let his emotions flow and can even admit that he almost cried when writing one about his mom (29).  Kevin is beginning to heal at the end of the book when he returns to baseball but doesn’t forget his poetry in the process.  He writes how poetry was always there for him and seemed to “guide his hand” but the quote that says it all is, “But finally I was able to say stuff, like about Mom, that was kind of buried inside.  It was great to talk to her, sort of, and for sure about her” (115).  He goes on to compare poetry to a friend.  Poetry is what helped Kevin through what could have been a summer of TV and junk and instead turned it into a reflective period that helped him cope and come to terms with the loss of his mother.