Tag Archives: eulogies

James Brown

I cannot say I learned to dance, although at times I was inspired; and with each wrong note, took a chance that in his band, I might get fired. Precision: like a jeweler’s saw he cut through space and time … Continue reading

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Eulogy on a Blank Canvas

I was born; that’s not quite news, nor is the sequence of events that followed closely there behind of much import, or consequence: like Isaac, most of my short life falls into sets of seven years, some uphill climbs, some … Continue reading

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Goodnight for Gonzo

for Hunter S. Thompson A life in isolation breeds its own brand of malaise, that the respected classes just ignore and seek instead on worthless causes to heap shame or praise, with their good sense, naming such moods a bore. … Continue reading

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Artie Shaw

By the time I got to it, the clarinet was odd; a quaint small instrument for guys who never got the girls (even the ones who played and sat in the same orchestra rows day and day, year after year), … Continue reading

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Imagining

Too much of what the world has been, and is, and still might be, has as its limits what we call impossibility. We reign imagination in and relegate its course to doomsday visions, worst-case scenes, and dissipate its force. But … Continue reading

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brando

The last of the icons remaining to us whose methods have become the norm, whose portrait of rebellion created the fuss that pushed us from the eye to the storm and in just a few lines, or gestures, inspired a … Continue reading

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ray Charles: Eyesight From the Blind

In one of his early 70s comedy routines, Flip Wilson imagined a conversation between Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain (and I paraphrase, as the album Cowboys and Colored People is long out of print and my vinyl is … Continue reading

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment