Pa. man finishes six-year grave-visit tour - The Philadelphia Tribune
Skold, a poet himself, began his first trip during the spring of 2009 in his Dodge Sprinter van — nicknamed Dedgar the Poemobile — driving to the grave sites of 150 of his favorite poets during a 90-day journey throughout the East, South and... This final journey, which began at the burial site of Edgar Allen Poe in Baltimore, has taken him to 97 poets’ graves in 70 days, and he’s poured cognac onto the tombstone of each. The liquor ritual was inspired by a former unidentified secret admirer or admirers — known in the poetry community as the Poe Toaster — who was famous for visiting Poe’s grave each year on the deceased writer’s birthday and drinking a glass of... Coming home: Skold decided to finish his journey at the grave of his father, Robert Skold, because he helped inspire the journey. After his father’s death, Skold and his mother even found a folder with six or seven poems written by the father. Writer John Updike’s son, Michael, whom Skold met through an association of gravestone studiers, has agreed to carve his tombstone, Skold said. John Updike’s tombstone, designed by his son, was one of Skold’s favorites from his journey. “The last poet’s grave I find will be my own,” Skold reads from an unfinished poem he’s written while on his trip. Source: www.phillytrib.com
