(Whitney Houston(1963-2012) .
Come back for one more encore
give us your glamour and charm,
your multi-octave mezzo-soprano voice
that reached a wide range of notes,
with the right modulations at the right time.
'Million Dollar Bill' and 'Whatchulookinat'
had catchy titles, were hit records,
so was 'The Star-Spangled Banner'
which you took to a whole new level
at the 1991 Super Bowl final.
It is some months that you have been gone.
Time is taking you further away.
For there was no way out
that Saturday afternoon
at the Beverly Hilton.
No one to turn to, no one around,
except security guards in the hallway,
when, like Ophelia, you slipped
away into watery oblivion.
Yet you will live on, I think,
in your videos and compact discs
and in the hearts of the many children you helped.
Your image is often on my screen.
-July,2012.
1 - a CLARIFICATION: my yesterday's comment " my god! ! dead? ? " was to display my shock/regret and lack of knowledge re WH's death. i really felt a little shocked to hear about it. BUT, AFTER some reflection(?) i decided i'd probably heard about it. i'm not sure.
my god! ! ! dead? ? i saw her in movie The Bodyguard this year. i guess her bodyguard was on a break while she bathed, according to this Google piece: " On February 11,2012, Houston was found dead in the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California. The coroner's report showed that she had accidentally drowned in the bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors." i hope she went peacefully, and that all of us would. to MyPoemList. bri :)
Yes, she died on the date which you name. 'The Bodyguard' came out in 1992, I saw it also. I still play her CDs and DVDs, but not so often now. I have gone on to Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. I know what you mean about having limited time on a computer. I use library computers, which also have time limits. I have never owned a computer, maybe one day. Regards, Michael.
I love Poetry was brought up on it at the Catholic school I attended in Napier NZ.....still have some of my school books full of Poems very sobering in your choice of words but very much her in every way thanks made a difference to my very crappie day lol lol lol....I have written poems for people who have passed and their families nice skill to have.....still compose poems as part of lyrics for my brothers music but he usually say....too whimpy lol lol lol thanks
Thank you so much for your searching comments on this poem, the very first poem i had published, in 'valley Micropress', Wellington. I am Catholic too. Whitney actually went to Mt. St. Dominic's, a Catholic high school in New Jersey, but she more or less rejected any religion she was taught there.
What a beautiful tribute to a great singer who tragically died too soon. Commendable that this was your first published poem too. Well done.10+
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
2 – i don't watch TV, read newspapers, or read a lot of news online, generally. it would have been easy for me to have not known. and i don't really call myself a " fan" of anything (but ice cream) or anybody (but myself, maybe my wife, and a few members on PH) . bri :)