A Heaven of Starfish and Coffee #10/30

"I think when anyone dies now, we just say Rest w/Prince bc...Prince"

                                                                                        - Rachel Wiley
There are deaths that merely cease

a life, and there are deaths that change

the whole shape and cloth of living.

I wonder was the word genius easy to wear;

it would have to be, right? So many

people throwing it over your shoulders.

But you knew it is better to be naked &

those shoulders of yours smoldered molten

as you guitared, the way u sing, everything

you held in your hands given exact magic

you wanted it to become. Your mystery? Magic.

Every instrument quicksilver blessed;

how your throat caressed every sexy part; 

your heart was orchestra, your vision rocked

in every purple shade of praise and fire.

The first time I heard your music, I didn’t

know what to fall in love with first, I was

too busy shedding tight hetero-normal,

and dancing like a Kinsey 3. I don’t know

there’s another artist that was something

to everybody and everybody got something

My friend said your passing should redefine

the afterlife, and now, when someone we love

dies, we should say “Rest with Prince, bc…

Prince.” I agree. We can say “Dearly beloved”

we can say “Electric Word: Life” we can say

“They’ve gone to a better place, a place

of Starfish and coffee, of maple syrup and Jam…”