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Andrea Gibson, performing in Longmont, CO.
Instrumental music by Lara Ruggles: https://www.sharkkheartt.com/
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Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.
We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.
Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)
0:02
the day prince died
0:07
everyone said you were his biggest fan
0:09
you never did
0:11
you loved his music too much to ever
0:13
think no one could love it more than you
0:15
you talk about his vocal range for days
0:18
how we could start a note in one galaxy
0:21
and land it in another how he discovered
0:23
planets with his songs planets where the
0:26
lakes were lavender where the wind made
0:29
the sound of a b-side hit on vinyl where
0:32
everyone was six inches shorter without
0:36
shoes
0:37
in high school you’d sneak out of iowa
0:40
and drive to the dark to concerts in his
0:43
home at paisley park by the time you
0:46
were 18 you knew more about his drummer
0:49
than most people know about themselves
0:52
when we met
0:53
you were saving pennies to take red eyes
0:56
all over the continent each time someone
0:59
in the know said he’d be gracing the
1:01
stage of some tiny venue at 3 a.m in
1:04
chicago minneapolis hella i’d be at
1:07
brunch in colorado when you’d call to
1:10
say the show had just ended after three
1:13
encores that unraveled the axis of earth
1:18
i remember the sound of your sweat
1:20
through the phone on the 56th morning
1:23
you spent dancing to the dreams of a man
1:26
who learned to play 27 instruments on
1:29
his own
1:30
the first birthday present i ever gave
1:32
you was a skateboard i’d painted with
1:34
the sheet music the purple rain i didn’t
1:36
yet know true prince fans don’t listen
1:40
to purple rain
1:41
they listen to the silence outside of
1:44
vaults of unreleased songs believing the
1:46
songs could save their lives and
1:49
swearing they’d rather die than press
1:51
their ears to a single chorus without
1:54
his permission respect i learned
1:57
was the first rule to loving someone who
2:00
would erase his own name so it couldn’t
2:02
be sold
2:03
you said when you were near him you
2:05
wouldn’t look at him too long taught
2:07
your eyes to hang back
2:09
gave him more space than the moon
2:11
which is to say he was your gravity he
2:14
was a much of the world’s gravity he
2:17
kept people here
2:19
i don’t remember what we couldn’t get
2:21
seats together on the plane but i do
2:23
know i was exactly 16 rows behind you
2:26
when the wheels touched the ground when
2:28
we pulled up to the gate when the
2:30
pilot’s voice came over the speaker
2:32
folks we just received word that prince
2:35
has died i crawled over the seat in
2:37
front of me i was crawling over the next
2:40
i was almost 14 rows away when a mob of
2:43
passengers screaming they were late for
2:45
their destinations too refused to let me
2:48
pass i’d never in my life been so far
2:51
away from anywhere
2:53
i needed to be
2:55
when i found you in the terminal it was
2:58
his pain not yours rushing from your
3:01
eyes the thing about loving a stranger
3:03
is you can guess but you can never be
3:06
sure but they are privately surviving on
3:09
their journey to help others survive
3:11
i’m just so grateful for him you kept
3:14
saying i’m just i’m just so grateful for
3:16
it mascara running lines down your
3:18
cheeks like he come to wipe your tears
3:21
and left his guitar strings behind i was
3:23
scheduled to go directly from the
3:26
airport to meet a friend who was
3:27
grieving the death of her mother there
3:30
was no way you would have let me stay
3:32
with you but a whole universe exists in
3:35
the moments i spent weighing what to do
3:37
and i still visit that universe on days
3:41
i give up
3:42
on being an artist
3:44
i go back to your bedroom in 2006
3:47
where you are laying every album he ever
3:50
made on the carpet each record is a
3:52
blueprint of you
3:54
and the corner now is a man a half angel
3:58
and skyscraper shoes
4:00
i watch him watch you flip his vinyl to
4:03
the b-side and drop the needle into the
4:05
groove i watch him watch you watch my
4:08
face as his music hits my chest
4:12
i watch him
4:13
close his eyes
4:16
and rest
4:22
[Music]
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
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