»
Archives
»
Open Poetry #43
»
No Good Jim (the cooperman)
| Open Poetry #43 |
|
No Good Jim (the cooperman) |
|
|
serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738
|
He's made of Mississippi mud burnt umber and them yellow eyes I watched him wade into the mighty where he knew there was a tree hollowed by the tide of time and he'd bait the opening I watched him in amazement when he pulled a catfish from the stump hugged it tightly to his chest and brought it to me-oh-so-proud A big she-fish she must have weighed well over twenty pounds-- he told me we'd have lunch that day but said her eggs were just for him. I think of Jim as a Huck Finn he never could walk right in shoes and he would trap the nutria I shuddered when I saw the skins stretched in the sun to dry... he never could hold down a job but lived according to the sun offshore work and roustabout and sometimes he would pick up cash trawling with the old timers-- he had a knack for finding shrimp. I guess that he's retired now, and he doesn't look quite right the contrast doesn't play too well against the stiff white hospice sheets. He told me that he knows that he will not live to see next year and that the only thing he'd miss was the taste of ice cold beer that, and mud between his toes while bathing in the Mississip... Then we both laughed at his joke because he never would deny that he weren't right in the head-- he smiled and said that he has proof offical chemotherapy as tumors fight his brain for space-- a war within his skull. Then we talked "remember when" in the days we worked the stage-- how management would toss a fit when they saw that Jim showed up-- how I always had to state that "Yes, it's TRUE he's with the band" they always thought he was homeless and technically I guess he was, I knew then what I know now Cooper has no need of walls-- as long as there's a river's flow-- Jim will have a home. Once again, yes, once again a dying man said "please don't cry..." * * * And this is it... My friend has lost his battle with cancer. Seven brain tumors...he's a lovely man. Please smile, or pray, or wish him great big cats--he showed me the art of "noodling". * * * "Wow." * * *  |
||
| © Copyright 2008 serenity blaze - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
It hasn't been the same and it won't be the same, and Jim made magick happen.  * * * "wow" |
||
|
Marchmadness Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271So. El Monte, California |
So sorry about Jim, Karen. I have watched too many die, in the last few years, myself. Peace, Ida |
||
|
Artic Wind Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 8080Realm of Supernatural |
Serenity! I am sorry for your loss... It is hard to deal with losses. Hopefully you will have the Will to fight through Emotions you may have!  ARCTIC WIND |
||
|
serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
He's not dead yet. Unlike some, he can still see wonder in life and say "WOW". HUGS to y'both!  |
||
|
Robert E. Jordan Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-25
Posts 8541Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Yo Serenity Blaze, "Noodling" was big in Huntsville, Alabama when I lived there in the sixties. The folks across the street had one in the front yard that must have been five feet long, and fat. A big cat stays fresh a long--long time out of water. Love Bobby |
||
|
JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
Fine writing of your friend...James |
||
Alison 
since 2008-01-27
Posts 9318Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy! |
Know what, Karen? This is the kind of poem that makes me celebrate. You will carry Jim, the cooperman, with you forever. How lucky you both are. Yes, there will be a hole, but in every story and every poem and every memory, he will live ... and you will smile and maybe brush a tear. How wonderful to be remembered. How wonderful to have poems written about one who is so ill - I hope that you share them with him. I had a dear friend. He was my father's age and he was just this wonderful person in my life. He and my father died the same year of lung cancer. I talk more of Tom, the dashing bachelor with a beer in his hand tripping over his retirement television set still in its box. Drunk, going to the hospital in the ambulance and telling me later that he never would have owned that brand! That was after he gave the tv away and was sitting in his cane chair, holding a beer between his legs and a bandage was wrapped around his head from the cutting his head open. I smile still when I think of that. He didn't like his job. He didn't like the people he worked with and he damned sure did not like the brand of that tv! Love to you, A |
||
|
Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
You know what, sis? Those who make magik happen oft'times leave it behind but only to those who really knew them. You watch. He will. In the meantime, he's in my too. |
||
|
Artic Wind Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 8080Realm of Supernatural |
oops! lol-- That was a big mistake I made. Sorry.... I know what you mean now, Hopefully he can stay longer and longer! ARCTIC WIND |
||
Mysteria
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
He told me that he knows that he will not live to see next year and that the only thing he'd miss was the taste of ice cold beer that, and mud between his toes while bathing in the Mississip... Then we both laughed at his joke because he never would deny that he weren't right in the head-- You know? You can only smile and celebrate knowing people like this. Thanks for the share. |
||
|
Lady Ayla Member
since 2008-07-19
Posts 84WV, United States |
You need a hug! *random hugs* |
||
|
vlraynes Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-25
Posts 8229Somewhere... out there... |
"I think of Jim as a Huck Finn" and that's exactly the picture you painted... "He told me that he knows that he will not live to see next year and that the only thing he'd miss was the taste of ice cold beer that, and mud between his toes while bathing in the Mississip... Then we both laughed at his joke because he never would deny that he weren't right in the head--" smiling through the sadness of this... I think I would have liked Jim... "When the power of love overcomes the love |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
