The Mailer grave on Memorial Day, by Stephen Borkowski. He writes:
Memento Mori
A long standing tradition in Provincetown is to place a flag on the graves of Veterans for Memorial Day.The large marker commemorating the fallen during the Civil War features the most prominent display with the square plot circled with flags about nine inches apart.
I volunteered to do a portion of the cemetery historically known as the “Protestant Section” to distinguish it from the largely Portuguese Catholic section across the road.There are the graves of many artists of many denominations. The grave of Norman Mailer is among them, with his wife Norris Church Mailer interred by his side. The still gleaming white marble festooned with mementos unintentionally stands out among the stark terrain.
I felt a certain pride as my gloved hands pushed the stake end about 6 inches into the soft earth to acknowledge his service during wartime. Broadly, their contributions to my life and to the local cultural landscape, over many decades, will not be easily forgotten.