Mark Rothko

By Christopher Zoukis

East Marion Cemetery, Suffolk County, New York: the odor of pine trees, grass and inactivity loiters in the air. Tall pine trees responsible for the pitch smell stand in the distance like a living, green wall around the cemetery. In symbology, evergreen signifies immortality. Which is ironic, since all illusions of immortality have come and gone for the permanent residents of East Marion Cemetery.

The dead know only disappointment.

In olden times pine trees were thought...