The Day Lady Died Memory and the Past Quotes Page 1

This poem is all over the place with respect to time. Most of the poem is narrated in the present, but there are odd references to the past, like the remark that it's "three days after Bastille Day."

The poem looks into the future. Still no mention of memory or the deep past. Think about how strange these lines are: this poem is about the death of an artistic hero, and yet the speaker is worried about what he's going to eat.

Another stray and seemingly irrelevant reference to the past, which serves to dampen our expectation that we're going to hear anything meaningful about Billie Holiday.