Page 1114 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

crosses simple and ornate, of banners emblazoned with names on
torsos and forearms, and of gravestones with dates.

The graveyard scene across the back of biker Randy reminds me of 27

the family quilts that colonial women used to make. The design on the

quilt was of a fenced graveyard, surrounded by coffins with family

names stitched on each. The quilters moved the coffins into the quilt’s
center once the person died. Except quilts, unlike tattoos, can last for

generations. They hang in houses and folk museums. Sarah

Peacock’s canvas is living and breathing; it has a finite lifespan. And

it’s this vitality and subsequent mortality that makes them remarkable,

these death tattoos that Sarah hopes never to see again, portraits of

the beloved dead, the pain of whose death the living hoped to
extinguish somehow by prolonging their likenesses, flat, breathless,

and still, on their own skin. Until they’re gone, too.

Building Vocabulary

For each question, use your dictionary and context clues to choose

the meaning that most nearly defines the underlined word or phrase

as it is used in the essay.

1. The word placid most nearly means

a. placed.
b. clear.

c. tranquil.

d. tender.