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Tuesday, April 26, 2016

There Is No Purple in This Poem

There is no purple in this poem,
nor mentions of paisley,
no crying doves.

It wasn't his
fashion sense,
his androgyny,
his apocalyptic
religious beliefs.

No, what soul'd me
on Prince
was the liner credit
on the "Controversy" album
(the first Prince I ever heard):

"Produced, Arranged, Composed and Performed
by Prince."

A true auteur,
who could seemingly
do it all
like Charlie Chaplin,
like Stevie Wonder,
like God.

As time went on
the music got
funkier
and he became
stranger,
branched out
into formless movies,
pastel clothing,
ponderous poetry
CD-ROMs,
almost daring the fans
to stay attached
to his decidedly
unpopular
vision.

(To prove my devotion
I wore a fuchsia silk suit 
when I graduated 
from college,
my version of 
Gangsta Glam.)

It was this belief
in himself,
in his prodigious
iconoclastic abilities,
that inspired me,
a fat
Mexican American
kid
in the Orange County
suburbs

to think
I can make myself
into whatever I want
to be,
just like Prince.

So now,
at 52
I still write my poems,
record my songs,
plan my movies,
and I still wish
I were Prince.

[For the good folks at http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/ ]

11 comments:

  1. Every line, every word ~~ your poem is perfection!! He could do it all.

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  2. I agree, this is pure perfection :D

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  3. To find yourself with that ability to really do it all... yes that's the true inspiration... is the term Renaissance man appropriate?

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  4. My new favourite of yours.

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  5. Another of the world's icons gone too soon. This is a lovely tribute to someone who it seems you grew to really appreciate over time. Thanks for dropping by. :)

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  6. A very nice tribute. Well said.

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  7. He certainly spoke to the non-conformists among us. Imagine me, a rebellious white girl living in ultra-conservative South Africa embracing the seductive artistry of Prince. His music was part of the liberation.

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  8. Anonymous11:37 AM

    You. YOU are a PRINCE in my eyes. Muah!

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  9. I've been blasting his Purple Rain cd a lot lately. *sigh* We need these shamans to show the way, to make us believe in our own magic.

    la la 4 u, Mosky

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  10. Somebody's gotta lead the way...so thankful we had Prince. I'll take a scoop of his faith in self any day.

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