Dragonfly (page 24)

The next poem in Dragonfly is yet another rock poem, this time featuring guitar god Jimi Hendrix. Again, 'nuff said. "Are You Experienced?" In the Church of Saint Jimi, purples and blues played in the gold haze of the spotlight. A glass butterfly slicing through Spanish forests on ebony nights. At Monterey, Jimi's hips had thrust vermillion into white hot flames. Strumming with lips, fingers, tongue — Hendrix had spiraled into our brains, fired the wicks of our secret candles. We fed on his crystal bones like vampires at some vile feast. How could we have known how brittle he really was? That the prince was just a mirror? His flesh, only flesh?               GIF by Joseph Solo, Hollywood, CA.         Graphic artist at <SoloStudios.net>.         Click on image to see full animation. Page 24 Let's see . . . what can I tell you? Like the Santana poem, this is a sonnet. To be precise, a terza rima sonnet like each of the numbered sections in Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ode to the West Wind." Tetrameter instead of pentameter, however. Many many years ago, in some online workshop, an anonymous workshopper tore into this poem, shredding it beyond belief and courtesy. One of the things that person said was that vampires don't eat the dead, technically. I'm using the word vampires rather than zombies or ghouls because it alliterates with vermillion and vile. It's also in loose consonance with the surrounding "f" words: flames, fired, fed, feast, flesh. Also, vampires just seem culturally cooler and more together than zombies and ghouls. Besides, do we really know why or how we make such decisions when we write? Yes, we can rationalize a choice like I did above. But seriously, often there's a rightness that's just there, and it all clicks. Oh, do click on Joseph Solo's Hendrix image above; this will take you to his Hendrix animation — it's pretty glorious — and then you can also see his other rock god animations. If you're looking for a graphic artist, give Mr. Solo a try. As always, I'm very interested in getting some feedback or discussing anything with all y'all. Comment, okay? Thanks. Ingat. DRAGONFLY FIRST CONTENTS PREVIOUS NEXT LAST