W.S. Merwin — For The Anniversary of My Death

January 16, 2026·15 min·1 clip

A single poem made the host confront a truth most of us avoid: somewhere in our past lies the anniversary of our own death.

Padraig O'Tuama begins by reflecting on his practice of remembering anniversaries, setting up the central concept of Merwin's poem: that each year we unknowingly pass the anniversary of our future death. The poem opens with the line "Every year without knowing it I have passed the day when the last fires will wave to me," introducing themes of unknowing and mortality. O'Tuama notes Merwin's distinctive style of avoiding punctuation, which leaves the poem open-ended, particularly the final phrase "bowing, not knowing to what." He explains how this reflects the poem's exploration of what we don't know, rather than what we do. The host discusses Merwin's Buddhist practice and how it influenced his approach to death without fear in the poem. Rather than using euphemisms, Merwin employs precise poetic language like "the last fires will wave to me" and "the silence will set out" to address mortality directly. O'Tuama shares his personal experience spending three weeks at Merwin's home in Maui, sleeping in the poet's bed and reading the poem daily. He describes how Merwin transformed wasteland into lush rainforest over 40 years, hand-planting palms as an ecological commitment. The house contained thousands of books with inscriptions from literary friends, creating a sense of lives lived in friendship with poetry. O'Tuama notes the poem was published before Merwin turned 40, decades before his actual death in 2019 at age 91. He reflects on how the poem moves between vastness and intimacy, from existential questions to immediate sensory details. The structure of 13 short lines allows some phrases to stand alone, creating both isolation and connection. Merwin's lifelong ecological commitment extended beyond human concerns to all forms of life on the planet. The poem acknowledges that it may be painful for some listeners, particularly those near anniversaries or who have lost someone to suicide. O'Tuama emphasizes how the poem addresses both the grand and the particular, from existential questions to the immediate experience of rain and birdsong. The episode concludes with the idea that poetry itself might be like the wren's song—something that continues after the small body is gone, suggesting Merwin's awareness that his poetry would outlive him.

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