tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000300073693233014.post101673593788165715..comments2020-02-22T09:11:08.451-08:00Comments on Lipstick Press: just jack by Joe BladesJanet Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064735501871939254noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000300073693233014.post-53327551627389497992011-08-27T11:32:37.986-07:002011-08-27T11:32:37.986-07:00Thank you for your poem, Joe. I am not sure how t...Thank you for your poem, Joe. I am not sure how to submit a poem (if this is still open), so I'm including it here. Ellen S. Jaffe<br />**********************************<br /><br />For Jack Layton: State Funeral and Celebration, August 27, 2011<br /><br />Dream no little dreams (Indigenous prayer, spoken at the funeral)<br /><br />The bagpipes play their strange sad lament – <br />TV lets us see everything without being there: <br />Olivia Chow’s strained face, baby Beatrice,<br />the silent surging crowd.<br /><br />This morning I cleaned my kitchen cupboards, <br />touched up the orange paint (Colorado Dawn) –<br />death does this, makes us clean, straighten, see, listen, and touch –<br />loved ones, flowers, household clutter.<br /><br />Rise Up – Amazing Grace – Hallelujah – <br />O Canada, how can we lose this man, who gave a voice to the voiceless,<br />home to the homeless, a song of hope to people in need – <br />not a saint, but a very human being. <br /><br />I regret I did not know you, met you<br />only once – an NDP meeting – shook your hand,<br />saw your smile. The political is personal,<br />the personal political – you knew this by heart.<br /><br />Now you go from the ordinary world – bike paths,<br />jam sessions, elections – into the mystic...<br />Into The Mystic, where we can’t yet follow.<br />All our love goes with you – love is all <br />we need to keep your dreams alive.<br /><br /><br />Ellen S. Jaffe<br /><br />51 Chatham St.<br />Hamilton ON L8P 2B3<br />ejaffe@sympatico.ca<br />905-308-7683Ellen S, Jaffenoreply@blogger.com