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JH JH
JH Diana wept a tear after we made love and said: JH
JH "My Earthly Darling, I must bid you farewell. JH
JH The fate of your mud brothers... JH
JH As pieces of my life, floating, JH
JH Still soaring in Space. JH
JH JH
JH She could have been my wife JH
JH But her time: I didn't dare wish to waste. JH
JH JH
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?? 'Rhetorical Question' by R. Bentz Kirby ??
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I have been thinking about the death of Jimi, and this has lead me to a
rhetorical question.
What makes the difference in some people's lives?
Bob Dylan had a motorcycle wreck when it seemed his life was out of con-
trol, and he lived. What is the difference in Brian Jones (Jimi's close
friend) and Keith Richards? Why did Jimi, Jim Morrison and Janis burn out
so young? But, hard living folk like Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Jeff Walker,
Stephen Stills etc just seem to keep on going.
Is it the support system that allows them to survive? Is it something in
their nature? It seems to me that some, like Ronnie Van Zandt, even try to
get out of the rut that is killing them (some his last few songs like "That
Smell" and "Saturday Night Special" pointed out the fact that drugs and
guns are dangerous and signaled a retreat from his previous bad ass at-
titude.) but still get hit anyway. Is it just their time?
I am reminded of Odysseus and his passage by the Sirens.
"So spake they uttering a sweet voice, and my heart was fain to listen,
and I bade my company unbind me, nodding at them with a frown,
but they bent to their oars and rowed on."
In Bulfinch on page 242 I find this:
"The Sirens were sea-nymphs who had the power of charming by their song all
who heard them, so that the unhappy mariners were irresistibly impelled to
cast themselves into the sea to their destruction."
In "The White Goddess" by Robert Graves I find this:
"True poetic practice implies a mind so miraculously attuned and illum-
inated that it can form words, by a chain of more-than-coincidences(1.),
into a living entity---a poem that goes about on its own (for centuries
after the author's death, perhaps) affecting readers with its stored magic.
Since the source of the poetry's creative power is not scientific intel-
ligence, but inspiration--however this may be explained by scientists--one
may surely attribute inspiration to the Lunar Muse(2.), the oldest and most
convenient European term for this source? By ancient tradition, the White
Goddess becomes one with her human representative--a priestess, a pro-
phetess, a queen-mother. No Muse-poet grows conscious of the Muse except
by experience of a woman in whom the Goddess is to some degree resident;
just as no Apollonian poet can perform his proper function unless he lives
under a monarchy or quasi-monarchy. A Muse-poet falls in love, absolutely,
and his true love is for him the embodiment of the Muse. As a rule, the
power of falling in love soon vanishes; and, as a rule, because the woman
is embarrassed by the spell she exercises over her poet-lover and re-
pudiates it; he, in disillusion, turns to Apollo who, at least, can provide
him with a livelihood and intelligent entertainment, and reneges before his
middle 'twenties. But the real, perpetually obsessed Muse-poet disting-
uishes between the Goddess as manifest in the supreme power, glory wisdom
and love of woman, and the individual woman whom the Goddess may make her
instrument for a month, a year, seven years, or even more. The Goddess
abides; and perhaps he will again have knowledge of her through his ex-
perience of another woman."
Now, you may be quick to write these "myths" off, but consider this. In his
book Inside the Experience, Mitch says that Jimi, as far as he knew only
loved two women. One being Kathy Ethingham. Jimi dies in his mid-twenties,
as did many others such as Brian Jones etc. Some poets who did not, like
Rimbaud (an inpiration for Jimi and Dylan) simply quit writing. Rimbaud of
course turned to running guns.
So my theory is that some poets, like Jimi, Jim Morrison, etc, simply do
not make the switch from being inspired by the "moon" or the goddess to be-
ing inspired by the sun "Apollo" and are "called" home to their death by
the sirens; often times collapsing in a state of mental and physical ex-
haustion.
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0o o0
0o Sure enough this morning came unto me; o0
0o Silver wings silhouete against the child's sunrise. o0
0o And my Angel she said unto me, o0
0o "Today is the day for you to rise. o0
0o Take my hand, you're gonna be my man, you're gonna rise". o0
0o And then she took me...high over yonder. o0
0o -Jimi Hendrix o0
0o o0
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I wonder how we can attempt to gain an understanding of death of those who
are poets and who touch us. Plus, I think we can all see that Jimi left
behind poems that have a life of their own. If this gives you any weird
ideas, I am sorry. But, don't worry if Jimi is jamming in your attic, he
might be there.
The footnotes are below.
1. "The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense,
Take what you have gathered from coincidence."
'It's All Over Now Baby Blue', Bob Dylan.
2. "Moon Turn the Tides Gently Away"
--Jimi Hendrix
"'Right this way!' smiles a mermaid...
I can hear Atlantis full of cheer.-JH
"Electric woman waits for you and me...
So it's time we take a ride.-JH
JimiJimiJimiJimiJimiJimiHeyBabieJimiJimiJimiJimiJimiJimiJimiJimi
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Jimi Jimi
Jimi Hey, baby. Can I step into your world a while? Jimi
Jimi Jimi
Jimi "Yes you can", she said. Jimi
Jimi "Come on back with me for a while. Jimi
Jimi We're gonna go across the Jupiter Sun, Jimi
Jimi And see all your people one by one." Jimi
Jimi Jimi
Jimi I think I'd like to come along... Jimi
Jimi Jimi
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?? 'Further Musings' by Dan Matthews ??
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The concept of a relation between the Muse and Woman is interesting. I have
preferred in my own experience to think of the Muse as The Sleeper within
me, that awakens, sometimes at inopportune times, to take over my mind and
body and make me write. It sounds odd, I know, but that's what it seems
like. And when it happens I have no more control over it than I have over
the south wind storms that come past this little Cape I live on. I just
have to feel it and know its power. And the lines come unbidden, metered,
rhymed, and full of the unknown power of words streaming out of my pen. But
that's a bit of an aside, I'm afraid. What I wanted to say was that it has
not just been Jimi or Jim or Janis, but Mozart and Ramanujan and many, many
others, too, who were inspired and seemed to die before their time. I don't
think the Muse calls them back. I have a hard time with that. We know we
are threads in the great Tapestry, and we don't know what course we take
until it has been taken, nor how long the thread will carry us, nor what
our part will be in the final fabric. And the ones who seem important and
influential to us may mean little or nothing to someone else. A billion
people in China don't care... Mary and I were just talking about a similar
subject. When it comes to the end of our little time here in this reality,
none of it will matter, anyway. Not even the things that were the huge
problems or the great turmoils or the lifelong struggles. Only our love for
our companions, our friends, will carry any weight, and even then, we walk
alone. We define truth, and we come to some sort of reconciliation with our
place in life and the forces that shape it. We seek inspiration and it
seeks us. We run from the creative muse and toward the easy lies of fear.
We fall on the earth in submission, or fight against impossible odds. And
in the end the great flow of time has its way with us all, and the current
rules. There is a parallel, too, in the stars. You know, I'm sure, about
the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of intrinsic brightness versus mass, and
that there is a direct relationship between the initial mass of a star, its
brightness, and its lifespan. The most massive stars are the brightest, but
also the shortest lived. Likewise, the smaller stars are cooler, dimmer,
and last longer. Like some people I know... The relatively rare novas and
supernovas are only rare because we see only a brief instant of stellar
life during our lifetimes. It will happen to most of them. We just don't
know when.
-Dan Matthews
...and The Wind Cries Mary
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JH JH
JH "We will guide the light this time with a woman in JH
JH our arms. We as men can't explain the reason why the JH
JH woman's always mentioned at the moment that we die." JH
JH JH
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