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Robin Flicker's avatar

The lapping water is audible in this message! At least I think it is. I heard it when the message first started before you spoke and it occurred to me what the sound could be. I wasn’t sure but then you said that you could hear the water lapping. Then I listened again and it does seem to be - does anyone else hear it? I am homesick for the sea because it’s been years (since Covid) since I’ve been on a beach. So it’s possible that it’s an auditory hallucination. If anyone else hears it, please let me know.

Thank you for returning, Patti. These images are wonderful. The book is so beautiful. I know it’s not with you now, but some time when you are home, could you send a photo of Joyce’s writing in green pen? It would be such a thrill to see.

Again, thank you for returning and showing us these images, and for the blessings on the souls of Brian Jones and Jim Morrison.

Thank you, especially, for mentioning the poem that Jim Morrison wrote for Brian Jones. The poem was printed in pamphlet form with olive green ink on pale green bleached parchment and handed out to the crowd before many of the band’s performances. It is a mournful irony that only two years later, Morrison would pass on the same day, and his body, too, would be found in water.

On the first page of the pamphlet it says: “Ode to LA while thinking of Brian Jones, Deceased.” Over the next two pages is the poem, transcribed herein:

I’m a resident of a city

They’ve just picked me to play

the Prince of Denmark

Poor Ophelia

All those ghosts he never saw

Floating to doom

On an iron candle

Come back, brave warrior

Do the dive

On another channel

Hot buttered pool

Where’s Marrakesh

Under the falls

the wild storm

where savages fell out

in late afternoon

monsters of rhythm

You’ve left your

Nothing

to compete w/

Silence

I hope you went out

Smiling

Like a child

Into the cool remnant

of a dream

The angel man

w/ Serpents competing

for his palms

& fingers

Finally claimed

This benevolent

Soul

Ophelia

Leaves, sodden

in silk

Chlorine

dream

mad stifled

Witness

The diving board, the plunge

The pool

You were a fighter

a damask musky muse

You were the bleached

Sun

for TV afternoon

horned-toads

maverick of a yellow spot

Look now to where it’s got

You

in meat heaven

w/ the cannibals

& jews

The gardener

Found

The body, rampant, Floating

Lucky Stiff

What is this green pale stuff

You’re made of

Poke holes in the goddess

Skin

in meat heaven

w/ the cannibals

& jews

The gardener

Found

The body, rampant, Floating

Lucky Stiff

What is this green pale stuff

You’re made of

Poke holes in the goddess

Skin

Will he Stink

Carried heavenward

Thru the halls

of music

No Chance.

Requiem for a heavy

That smile

That porky satyr’s

leer

has leaped upward

into the loam

🍃

Thank you again, Patti. Warm wishes to everyone,

Robin

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Jim Van Waggoner's avatar

When I was in university, another lifetime ago, I was so entranced by Finnegans Wake that I memorized the opening lines...'riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay...' The entire thing remains fresh in my mind. It's so magical. I can't tell you how many times I ripped it off in my own writing. But mainly I read it with a sense of joy. How wonderful to have a signed copy. That's truly the stuff dreams are made of.

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