I know you have been skeptical about the inclusion of poetry in the Rugby Review, but I believe this poem deserves to be first. Because at some point in our lives we will all have to accept death and this poem is about that experience. In “Death of a Young Son by Drowning,” Margaret Atwood talks about a mother trying to cope with the loss of her son. The emphasis on the child's youth makes us even more sympathetic to the speaker. Atwood addresses death, a subject that all of us, as living beings, struggle to understand. However, she considers death less as an absolute end than as a beginning and a chance for rebirth and renewal. The poem begins with an allusion to the birth of the son and ends with him being planted in the ground as a seed. As readers, we can't help but feel sadness for the mother who loses herself in grief and despair as her son enters a world she cannot understand. On the other hand, towards the son, we feel something completely different and in him we can see the ambition and daring of the youth of our generation. Much like the broken thought process of a grieving mother, the poem is written in short stanzas consisting of three lines. Each verse introduces a new thought, except for the last verse which stands alone, like a flag. In conjunction with Atwood's metaphor of a sea voyage, the poem reads to the rhythm of the ocean waves. In the mother's mind, her son plays a bigger role than her as the most important person in her life. This is demonstrated by the first word of the poem, “He” (1), which is separated from the rest of the verse by a comma. It's almost as if the mother is calling upon a god, and that god is her son. The reader will be attracted by the first two stanzas, where the mother recreated...... middle of paper ......014 made the experience. Sometimes we can feel like the mother in the poem, desperate and wanting to drown our sorrows, but then we can call upon our memories of the people we miss and remember all their lives and vibrancy, which gives us more reasons to live. This poem reminds us how we must appreciate every moment and always remain ambitious, just like the son in this poem, because it only takes one accident for a life to be taken from us. And just like the mother, we planted literal flags for Julia and Justin in the form of their slogans “Slow down for Julia” and “Smile for Justin,” as well as metaphorical flags in our hearts and will continue to honor them forever. I'm sure subscribers will love this deep and engaging poem that will also look great on the page. This poem has so much meaning and I hope you will consider putting it in the Rugby Review..