Friday, October 11, 2013

Good Bye Dave

He jumped a passing songtrain,
with no reassurance
the plan's still on track...
The net is fragile --
there's the rub.

They were the first to catch
the note of grief
and the first to say
 'tis time to go at last! 
The wind is slowly rising
and will take you.

I miss 'em like hell.


These 55 words are for G-man at FF55, but they are also for fellow poet Dave King.  Over at dVerse Brian told us of Dave’s death, and of the friendship that had developed between the two of them even though they had never met.  And then he went on to talk about friendship in general and suggested we write about either Dave specifically, or friendship, particularly the friendships that have grown through writing and blogging.  I chose to write my 55 words about Dave King.  In fact these words belong to Dave King.  In some previous prompt somewhere (yes, I’m too lazy to look it up for you – please just take my word for it) there was a challenge to combine lines and parts of lines from other poets’ works to create something new and original.  And, as Dave was a better, more thoughtful poet than I, that’s what I did here.  This poem is pieced together with bits of the following poems written by Dave King:

“A Silly Little Nonsense Poem”, "I Miss Me Hot Flushes!", “Where To?”, “The Great Exchange”, "The Trees Are Pulling Up Their Roots" and “Fishing” (not in that order).

I’m pretty sure there is a name for this other than plagiarism, but I can’t remember that either.  And I may have changed a pronoun or a tense here or there.   And as for Dave King, even though I’d never met him in person, “I miss ‘em like hell.”

35 comments:

  1. Such a special tribute using his own words.
    Perfect.
    Well done, Mary.

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  2. how very cool to piece together his lines to build this...that is def a memorial to him...and i will miss him like hell as well...smiles....very cool mary

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  3. Wonderful tribute during this sad time.
    You always say the right thing Mary, and say it beautifully.
    Loved your 55
    Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Week-End

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    1. Thanks Galen. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.

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  4. so NOT plagiarism, but an honor to a fine gentle man. You are so creative - this is cool.

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    1. Thank you Margaret. I hoped I wasn't being presumtuous.

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  5. Mary, a very cool write and tribute. ~ M

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  6. The first line really got me--jumping the songtrain...and while I don't normally care for borrowing other people's lines, I think in an instance like this it is both respectful, and shows the true nature of our collective loss. A loving, graceful tribute, Mary.

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    1. Thanks Joy. I def. felt some trepidation in doing it this way. I'm glad it was received in the spirit intended.

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  7. It's so sad to lose a friend. And the connections we have on here are as strong and viable and as important as any "real life" friendship. A beautiful collective poem, Mary. Oh, and I giggled at your response to my 55. Thank you. :)

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    1. That's true, we may need to define "real friends." Thanks Talon, and glad I was able to give you a giggle. :o)

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  8. Wonderful collage.. and this is a great tribute to a great poet

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  9. Mary, you and Dave were random blogs on poetry when I set up blogspot... there is a name for this idea of taking lines from other poems to put them into a whole, a collage of sorts (heard it on the public radio I think) where imaginary characters of a shared invented name presented a well received book as if new poems (including some lines say, of Shakespeare). This is a very deep question a the heart what creativity and uniqueness is in general. So I thought the imaginary gardens he occasionally mentioned were open poetry mikes in places he spoke it in his city (odd I dont recall where it is... you see, he had things to say and especially like my local photos of things... as if say he walked had thru the town with me or was part of our Thanksgiving dinners) This sort of connection transcends words and radiates poetry. If in a memorium we find the most difficult thing of which to work into a poem I would not be up to it good enough. Then again it feels like what we have tried has his help, or that which in us we too lit up to radiate thru his beckoning finding beyond the net a real portal. The measure of a poet is perhaps how deep he can read others yet not be changed, not cloud things by lesser moods. That to me is more difficult than the writing poems...he inspired a sense of trust that welcomed his influences.

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    1. I think you're right - the sense of himself as a person comes through so clearly. And that person was a gentleman in the very best sense of the word. Interesting about the book you heard about on public radio.

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  10. A wonderful, clever tribute. Dave would have enjoyed it. Thank you for this.

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  11. WOW! I LOVE this - What a TOTALLY COOL idea to use Dave's own words in tribute to him. SO beautiful...........yes, he will be missed. I wish he could be reading all of these tributes to him right now. And maybe he is!

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  12. A lovely tribute Mary ~ Weaving his words with yours, very fitting way to honor him ~

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    1. Thank you Grace. And they are actually all his words, I just combined them in a new way.

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  13. What a great tribute to him. I even like the titles of the poems you took the lines from.

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    1. Thank you Alice - I had superb meterial to work with.

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  14. this is just a wonderful idea mary... he would have loved it.. and yeah...missing him too..never thought it would hit me so hard..

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    1. Thanks Claudia. I feel the same way - surprised a bit by the impace of his death.

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  15. Hi there Mary,

    You have squeezed so much into this 55 - such tenderness and longing and sense of depth too:

    "the net is fragile..." "...The wind is slowly rising and will take you..." Lovely work With Best Wishes to you as ever Scott www.scotthastie.com

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  16. I just learned of Dave's passing a few minutes ago. He clearly touched a lot of lives and I personally appreciated his artistry and his thought-out comments on my blog. May he rest in peace.

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  17. You captured the spirit of Dave to perfection. Long will we remember him.

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  18. Oh god did Dave pass? I'll go and read the article at D'Verse. I loved his poetry. Great tribute, sis. How sad : (

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