Missing Mike

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead. ( W.H. Auden)


My introduction to Michael Jackson was in the time of the Thriller album. An older cousin's cassette tape found its way into our house and I took it hostage for a couple of weeks during which I locked myself in the den and danced to 'P.Y.T.', my hands-down favorite MJ song before I discovered the pre-existing 'Rock With You'. I can't believe he's gone. When he went from tolerably quirky to uncomfortably weird in the last two decades, I stopped listening. I thought he would keep on existing from year to year until we all stopped counting; like Keith Richards, like Mick Jagger. But he has gone and left without giving us a chance to say a proper goodbye. I find myself paying homage to the man by playing his songs and watching his videos and exclaiming to the universe, he really was an amazing performer, wasn't he? Never mind his personal life, never mind the stuff of tabloid headlines. He gave us the music that got us on our feet. He gave me P.Y.T. and the freedom to dance. Thank you, Mike. Bon voyage!