Thom is the TEXAS BEAT POET LAUREATE 2020-2022.
VIBES LEFT BEHIND
BEING A JOHN LENNON DEVOTEE
I went to the Dakota Hotel. It was dark and chill.
No joy, so, around the corner to Strawberry Fields,
where the young were playing
John Lennon songs continuously.
Light and spark!
It was Yoko Ono who set up this Memorial Space,
with the single word IMAGINE central to this pocket park.
In Austin, we have a pocket park for Albert Huffstickler,
poet of the people, who from his park bench,
wrote and gave away poetry in Hyde Park.
Memorials remind us of our shared pasts,
which is why a statue of YORK,
an enslaved member of the Lewis and Clark expedition
appeared in a Portland park.
And, in Bristol, a slave-trader statue of Edward Colston
was dumped in Bristol Harbor,
replaced temporarily by one dedicated to BLM's Jen Reid.
In Texas, hundreds
of Confederate statues are now in Museums.
There are statues of whistleblowers in Berlin,
drawing our attention to their release from prison.
And statues of Saddam were destroyed,
like the statues of Stalin.
Taliban destroyed Buddhist sculptures,
which were replaced by artists with holograms.
Statues of Hitler melted down.
Native American sculptures rising up.
What we honor, celebrate and respect has changed,
so statuary must adapt.
I remember Beatles statues
outside the New Cavern in Liverpool,
but there are no Beatles anymore.
I like what Dolly Parton said,
when they wanted to make a statue of her-
"I am grateful, but I am not dead yet.
Just enjoy the music while I am living!"
AND I AGREE...
See an interview and performance by Thom produced by the National Beat Poetry Foundation in 2020.
Thank you Belinda!
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