explaining the death of two icons to my son

In one day two icons are gone

I tell my son – the king of pop

and the queen of the pinup.

 

We stop for gas and I talk

to a lady filling up and

almost make her cry by reminding

her of song titles and

the single sequined glove.

 

I give her my copy of a “Best of” CD

I have in my car and tell her to play

#5 on her way home.

 

I promise her it will become her favorite

song from when he was really little

and beat James Brown at being James Brown –

before the moonwalk or the fun house mirrors –

when his voice was full of the same

fear and hunger that we all feel

in being little and wanting desperately

to understand love.

 

As we drive away my son asks me why I spoke

to a stranger and why I’d give her my disc.

I tell him I can get another copy, but that the lady

really needed to hear a good thing from her past

and that I’d show him my Farrah poster later.

 

Copyright © henry toromoreno, 2009. All rights reserved.