“Goodbye Camden” - 4/05/24

When I say goodbye to you it is always with a twinkle in my eye
I don’t feel morose or goddess forbid melancholy
Yours spirit’s made holier by the loss of a talent so immense
The murals span many city blocks

When I think of Amy Winehouse how her gifts
Connected united so many diverse listeners
Lovers of soul music pop folk and jazz
Lovers of big cities small towns stillness and pizazz

And the sadness of her physical demise shipwrecked
An island loner’s malaise propped up by
Sycophants who couldn’t care less thinking

With their wallets bamboozling bereft
Character exuding charisma protruding gangly
Limbs loved and hated praised and paraded
Ultimately canonized a voice is the lesson

Have a voice above all that cries with compassion
That feels every fall then rises Pheonix-like
Even after death Oh Camden my Camden
Putrid canals garbage pollution brown watered deep wells

Of creative energy and color and sparkle
Worshipping what’s classic what’s retro Truth’s alter
The Frida the Warhol the Winehouse The Beatles
Goths and punks and tourists and buskers

From a not-so-far distance you become as picturesque as
Venice weeping trees casting shadows on market-lined
Cobblestoned streets stalls filled with tchatchkes
Fashion-filled shops from halvah

To screen prints red Moroccan rugs
I delight in your history the music the art
But mostly it’s your people-watching I will miss
Until next time Camden with a butterfly kiss