Friday, June 26, 2009

Michael Jackson: A Short Tribute



I chose this video because it's the earliest memory I have of a Michael Jackson song -- about that of an "unwanted" rat by the name of "Ben". Another reason I decided on this video is that it seems that Michael Jackson saw himself as "Ben".He knew that he missed his childhood, has no long lasting relationships, had no list of "best friends" except perhaps Liz Taylor whom he wanted to marry. The problem was that Liz Taylor knew that Michael Jackson wanted a "mother", not a wife. So it went that he married Lisa Presley which sounded like a PR/corporate coup but we all knew that marriage would not last.

Many wonder why and perhaps, it was for the obvious reason that Michael Jackson was obsessed in buying the childhood years he was never allowed to enjoy. Childhood, children, kids.... it was the Peter Pan syndrome even his "Neverland Ranch" (his heaven on earth) seemed to be nothing but a huge playground for kids.

He was not perfect - aha! we all know that.But do we REALLY KNOW or do we only think we know? Michael Jackson was a human being who was soft spoken (when not on stage) and who was, obviously, harassed all his life because he had BIG money. He has "problems" and thus had to pay-off a lot of people. He almost lost everything though and was planning his "great comeback" in the London stage this July when he passed away on the same day as another pop icon, Farrah Fawcett, got her real wings.

Except that Farrah was loved. She had her parents, family and the man who loved her by her side when she slipped to heaven. Michael Jackson was alone when he died with no one, living in a rented hundred thousand dollar a month apartment.

We wish him forever peace. At last, he may be in that better place where he NOW has learned to love himself at last. Today, he knows that he was loved, even if he thought that he was so "unattractive" that he "needed" to change his face and skin color. It is reported that he had more than a dozen facial surgeries.

His music however forever lives on as we remember that there was once a poor boy who sang and never grew up and was called "The King of Pop". That king is dead but what moves me about this man/boy is the whole tragedy of his life. Even in death, he remains an "enigma". Sometimes it makes me wonder if geniuses like him and Vincent Van Gogh for instant are pretty much doomed to be unhappy in this planet because "they don't belong". Again, I quote Don Mclean : "But I could have told you Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you".

Twitter is alive with Michael Jackson tributes, google almost collapsed today and there are other people dying as I write this. It's sad that Michael Jackson's whole life was a lingering performance, much like the life of Ben, the rat in the video, except that Ben found one loyal friend. I doubt if Michael had one though he had millions of fans.

Sad.. really.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Poem for My Sister

Born in the same womb
You and I bloomed
I became me and you became you
Parted by oceans yet instinctively I feel me and you
so near as though we share one nest
connected still by some invisible umbilical chord
called love -- or more than love.

You sit sometimes at eight in the morn
praying to God each day that His blessings me adorn
Knowing that so often your visual image makes me smile
You are to me my sister, my closest friend- the classiest one with style
THAT A-1 human being who makes me laugh as I recall
the merriest memories of "us" -- being simply us.

Family means those memories though some of them have dimmed
mom and dad, the scent of the Christmas air, sounds of the Church bells
The books in school, the sweetness of family dinners, the problems of "long ago"
When we felt so secure because we knew "we belonged" - nurtured, safe, loved.

Though I speak of long ago, I"m also glad there's NOW
You are there and I am here... and still our lives bring me joy
because we are still family
our parents watches o'er us
proud of what we've become, but more so ecstatic that we love
each other -- as sisters often do - and should.

by Guia Gomez






Sunday, June 14, 2009