Life On Mars Poem Summary

What is the life out of earth? What is the mystery in Space? Where do the dead people go? If God exists what is the nature of God? The author of Life On Mars, Tracy K. Smith celebrates this confusing and puzzled relationship of human existence with the universe. The Weather In Space and The Speed of Belief, the use of “space” as a metaphor by Tracy K. Smith to explore important questions of life about what the nature of God is, what is life all about and where do the dead people go after they die shifts to an emblem of individual journey of grief, perspective and solace.
Firstly, through the opening poem “The Weather In Space”, Smith is questioning about the nature of God. She already believes in the existence of God, but she seeks to know

The title of the poem “Weather In Space” starts with the false promise of creating a theme of an atmosphere in space however, there is no weather in space. Smith tries to do this intentionally as she wants to remind the readers the presence of absent forces claiming that space is not empty rather a place far from our grasp but holds our imaginations, reflections and wondrous things. Her explanation of space and continuous seeking of answer about the nature of God reflects her interest in understanding the distant future. According to an interview “Q & A Tracy K Smith The Space Poet”, when she was asked when did she started writing about space, she answered “I wrote a poem called Sci – Fi several years ago that offered a clear and glamorous vision of the

Through the lines “I didn’t want to wait on my knees/ In a room made quiet by waiting. / A room where we’d listen for the rise/ ……………..Of food meant to fortify that silence,”(line 1-6) Smith tries to present the scene of her father dying in hospital referring to elements like “a room made quiet by waiting”, “rise of breath”, “orchids” and “trays” (27). The lines “I didn’t want to believe/ What we believe in those rooms” (line 11-12) shows the love and affection Smith had towards her father that she did not wanted to lose him disregarding the truth of losing him forever in those hospital rooms (27). In the second section of the poem, she describes what her father did at her grandfather’s death and now she symbolically places herself at her father’s place and does the same. The lines “When your own sweet father died/ You woke before first light/ After you’d left, I sat in your place/ After finished the toast bits with jam………/ Flanged in fat, savoring the taste”(line 1-12) infers at the time her grandfather died, she was young and her father was the one to do every rituals, but now time has changed and she has become older, and she emotionally imagines those days what her father did