Janis Joplin: yeah?
NG: A woman...
JJ: yeah?
NG: A woman...
JJ: yeah?
NG: Just makes me mad.
JJ: Aw man....sheeit.
--"Ego Rock", from Joplin In Concert
While i was in the hospital
being the world's shittiest caterpillar,
you bought me
JOPLIN IN CONCERT
the double live album i coveted bad.
you were leaves on a high breeze.
i was a silk grenade.
we were young once, weren't we?
in Birmingham
so far down the rabbit hole, the wrong way down the telescope.
nothing from then is still the same.
i kiss the feet of the Goddess who arranged *that*, but
the desire i had to will wings out of my body
and rise is still there,
just like
JOPLIN IN CONCERT
and though i rarely play it,
i see the red cover
and there you are, smiling still, and standing right in front of me.
______
for Bittersweet Melodies at Real Toads.
Why is it talents like Janis and Jimi and John Belushi leave too soon?
ReplyDeleteSome gifts are butterflies, others are chrysalis TNT. Amen.
ReplyDeleteI love this, Shay. Deeply touching.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's the little things so often overlooked that take one back.
ReplyDeleteShay,
ReplyDeleteyou rock the words.
I just adore Joplin.
What a great talent!!!
PS. I once said, "If my poetry could talk, it would sound like Joplin!"
I like the use of the caterpillar...the mention of wings...the metamorphosis - that unseen happens. Beautifully emotive, Blossom of Fire.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, I feel it too...
ReplyDeleteBittersweet, indeed. These are the moments that come back to haunt us, but somehow, without them, we would never be able to be ourselves, even in memory. The gifts we are given in love sustain us to our last breath.
ReplyDeleteOh, nice. This reads like an inside joke, an intimate story shared by just two, but it is so universal, too. Just a glimpse of the cover brings the music and the memory, probably even the smells and tastes. :)
ReplyDeleteBittersweet has never been written any better.
ReplyDeleteI just like this, shay. I like the way it makes me feel.
ReplyDeleteEspecially stellar. Janis Joplin linked with your memories does make it a melody.
ReplyDeletethat era with janis, hendrix, crosby stills nash and young, etc...rocked !
ReplyDeletebetween the vietnam experience, woodstock and so on, is what inspired my consciousness to a keener level.
gracias for this reminder
There are moments of power in memories. We are never sure what will spark a flashback.
ReplyDeleteI find so many memories in music. This is a lovely, nostalgic poem.
ReplyDeletePat
Critter Alley
Aw, LOVE!
ReplyDeleteThis is what music does! Turns memory filament in to steel cables!