The Unabridged Poe Sparrow

Pushin' Up Daisies...
"I hope I die before I get old."  My Generation/The Who
I still have JDM's obituary from the St Louis Post Dispatch. It's yellowed, almost as yellow as a daisy's nubby center... Why do we collect sad momentos?
"Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet. Cut myself on Angel's Hair and baby's breath." Heart Shaped Box/Kurt Cobain
I first learned of JDM's death via TV, the psuedo-drug box he despised. A somber "we told you so" broadcast to America's "misguided" youth flashed archived snippets of a frenzied, whacked-out Jimmy... on the road to eminent destruction. Many descriptive labels were employed-- Conspicuously absent, was the word "poet".
"Humans weep at human death All the talkers lose their breath Movies paint a chaos tale Singers see and poets wail" No Man Can Find the War/Tim Buckley
The following day, I felt a familiar gnawing in the pit of my stomach, as my mother approached with the section of newspaper.
"You walk across the floor with a flower in your hand..." 5 to 1/The Doors

By now, I had nearly grown used to it. Several months earlier, she had hesitantly placed similar articles about Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix in my hands. And Brian Jones...
"And don't forget to put roses on my grave." Dead Flowers/Rolling Stones
My shiny black vinyl disks were starting to gather dust. I would begin to play my albums, only to halt the turntable, mid-song, blinded by tears. Scott Mckenzie's "San Francisco flowers" had wilted in my hair.
"May I lay 'neath the roses, and my eyes no longer see." It Must Have Been the Roses/Grateful Dead
And the death march continued.... Tim Buckley, Keith Moon, John Bonham, John Lennon...
"No Hell below us Above us, only sky" Imagine/John Lennon
And it continues still... Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley, Jerry Garcia...
"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?" JANIS*
"Looking out the door I see rain fall upon the funeral mourners" Grace/Jeff Buckley
"And she's buying a stairway to Heaven" Led Zeppelin

Dried Flowers...
pressed between Bible pages re-newing Tears re-storing Fears Can't see where I'm going Not sure where I've been... Odds are we'll be meeting-- 'round the next turn, my friend Just me, myself, and I... Maudlin' and dawdlin': The HUMAN Condition Dig it... Diggin' up daisies-- Why do we... collect, reflect, deflect, neglect, correct-- catagorize, organize, fraternize, idolize, atomize, REALize-- relate, re-create, delegate, incriminate, alienate, masturbate??? Dont ask ME. Why don't we... Smell the flowers Taste the rain Seek an ethereal plane... Fly!

Simplicity
If dreams are for children and reality the goal of the wise... Why do I remember complete truth and beauty in the warmth of the sun as it shone on the very top of my head as I sat in a puddle left by rain? There was the taste of Spring clover shared with a curious puppy... Boundless energy to explore the horizons and touch the rainbows-- And my father singing nonsense songs out of tune... to me By Jane/Poe Sparrow Cover of Mothering Magazine, 1980
"Gold and rose,the color of a dream I had not to long ago... Misty blue and lilac too-- Never to grow old" One Rainy Wish/Jimi Hendrix
"Lady time, fly away I've been thinking 'bout my yesterday Oh, please listen darlin' to my empty prayers Sleep inside my dreams tonight All I need to know tonight are you and my child Oh is he a soldier or a dreamer? Is he mama's little man? Does he help you when he can? Or does he ask about me?" Dream Letter/Tim Buckley

Quote by Jeff Buckley, to a friend: "Remember that I forgive my father, and I just have to move on."   - The Tribal Soul Kitchen Text and Bird Drawing Copyright Poe Sparrow/Jane Page Design by ZCrystal