Elegy for John Lennon

(composed hours after Cousin Patty phoned me from NYC)

this bitter grief,

this tragedy,

terror and mourning…

not like the President or Bobby, the Queen, or Morrison or Janis or Hendrix---

this heartbreak truly represents

the death of a beaten generation…

the sun will forever chill, ironically, beginning in Sagittarius!

I want to write reams about death

coming from another man who has just died himself, like John,

because of and in spite of Love.

But as much as I have learned from this heart’s demise, there still remains more soul suffering,

flesh searing- a further yearning for decency and Ideals, more of this to shatter.

It is true- easy to see the reality that Woodstock is all over for us,

Dreamers and Dancers- waitresses and truck drivers too!

For who can speculate on the extent of madness that consumes men’s hearts?

To live from the consciousness is not enough.

To die from the heart through bulletholes does not scratch the surface.

To perish is never enough!

Nor to Love!

Lennon, our generation’s Wordsworth, is gone.

And so are we.

There are memories, remaining,

memories only.

This is not enough!

For there are far too many hearts weeping

candles dripping today…still not enough!

What is enough is that America's greatest calamity is we are now assassinating our Poets!

So what is there to be done about this, John Lennon?

Surely, your music lives on,

yet what have your survivors learned from your Poetry?

Lives that still can only find their meaning from torture

must exist only for violence and hurt.

I fear your Poetry has been lost to the individual ego of career, fame, greed!

What is our HipFamily to do now?

We have lost Family,

our Generation of dreams and solidarity.

Lost.

We have killed you just as we seem to poison every Dreamer

who declares what is right and just.

I fear the rest of us may not survive this last cruel act.

It is time to pray for those Sisters who teach us with their milk, for their men are beyond help.

John, we are doomed, like you, but unlike your Instant Karma, we will not be spared the coming

catastrophic deluge!

Bisbee

12/8/80