Kathleen Oslip: Elegies - Amy Winehouse

All song is formal, and you
Maybe felt this and decided
You’d be formal too. (The eyeliner, the beehive: formal.)

When a desire to escape becomes formal,
It’s dangerous. Then escape requires
Nullity, rather than a walk in the park or a movie.
Eventually, nullity gets harder and
Harder to achieve. After surgery, I had
Opiates. I pushed the button as often as I could.
Understood by music was how I felt. An escape
So complete it became a song. After that,
Elegy’s the only necessary form.

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Published in Poetry Magazine Dec 2013. Click through for elegies to Steve Jobs, Troy Davis, Lucian Freud and Donna Summer.