twenty-five years
since, of all people, Howard Cosell announced
on Monday Night Football
the murder of John Lennon

having been sipping a few pony beers
those little seven ounce mini-bottles
I ran to the loo and vomited
too stunned to weep
though now in later years
weep I bit I surely would.

lennon is a purist
all he was saying was
give peace a chance...

I cannot argue with that
for calls of war and hate
there must be voices
for peace and love
to balance the ledger

he was not Saint John
a musician and poet
that was his calling
and he seemingly had found
his own personal peace
at the time of his death.

he was cheated of life
we were cheated of his new maturity
as a wonderful artist.

i can dissect his signature song Imagine
but the sentiment of his song
for me is beyond reproach
for what these words say to me
in a beautiful presentation
that we should embrace peace and love
and tolerance and each other
in our own way...

poetpj 12082005 1411

Beautiful.

I can remember what I was doing, not on the day he died, but on the day afterward. It's one of those days I remember as intensely as those who can remember exactly what they were doing when JFK was shot.

I was in New Orleans, waiting for a bus to Canal Street, and it was warm enough for neighbors to have their windows open. Through one of those openings came John Lennon singing "Imagine," and I started crying and couldn't stop until the bus came.

Thanks... I am a huge fan of John Lennon, and his political side was a part of him. I relate as much or more to him as an artist.

yes, I remember when Bobby and John and Martin were each killed, the moments when the news came out.

In later years, I have saved a tape of Bobby telling an audience that MLK had been assassinated, and then I remember watching late at night the scene from McCarthy headquarters when it was announced the RFK had been shot.

I remember the emotional eulogy that Teddy gave his brother Bob. This is not near an exact quote, but what I remember from the moment, it can be looked up, I have it somewhere... from EMK to his brother...

"My brother need not be idealized in death beyond what he was in life. He saw wrong and tried to right it. He saw hunger and tried to end it. He saw war and tried to stop it."...

for historical sake, the exact quote can be gotten from the record, but I would guess from Ted or the late Bobby, if they saw what I had remembered as opposed perhaps to the exact quote, they wouldn't mind...