"The Albuquerque Graveyard" is a pivotal piece in Wright's third book, Soothsayers and Omens. This collection symbolizes Wright's journey toward understanding spiritual order and his own place within it. Through the poems, he delves into African creation myths, interweaving them with the landscapes of Mexico and New Mexico found in his earlier works.

Poem's Transitional Nature

The work exemplifies the transitional nature of the poems in the second and third sections of this four-part volume. Wright revisits a graveyard he knows well, but this time, he grapples with a deeper challenge: positioning himself within the legacy of African American history.

Journey to the Cemetery

Wright opens the poem by reflecting on the cumbersome journey to the graveyard. He muses, "It would be easier/ to bury our dead/ at the corner lot," expressing a wish to avoid the early morning bus rides. The search for familiar graves involves a routine path, taking him past the well-maintained graves of white individuals as he acknowledges, "the pattern of the place is clear to me."

Understanding Historical Patterns

The "pattern" Wright notices extends beyond the cemetery's layout to encompass historical narratives. In subsequent lines, he writes, "I am going back/ to the Black limbo,/ an unwritten history/ of our own tensions." Here, "limbo" signifies both an ambiguous, neglected space in history and the corporeal restraint of the limbo dance, which originated on packed slave ships. Wright aspires to document the forgotten history and to critique erroneous narratives, solidifying the African American identity within Western culture for both the deceased and the living.

Encountering the "Hierarchy of Small Defeats"

As he moves through the graveyard, Wright observes its inhabitants interred in a "hierarchy of small defeats." He pauses at certain graves, recalling individuals like a man who kept photos of Paul Robeson and aspired to play Othello, and a woman who taught him to spell, hoping he’d become the writer she never was. These "small heroes," however, unsettle him, because he struggles to contextualize them within a broader, significant framework.

Confronting Ancestral Graves

The poem concludes with Wright's uneasy visit to his ancestors' "simple mounds." He leaves flowers on their resting places but departs still feeling disconnected. Despite this lingering alienation, the act of engaging with his familial past is crucial to Wright's evolution as a poet. It initiates his transformation by helping him perceive himself as part of a greater order, rather than an isolated entity.