I do not know if you will ever be famous
ever be accepted by those circles
the ones that tell us what to read, why
and what it all means, as though we do not have thoughts of our own
and if we did, well, they probably wouldn't be worth much anyway

I think, in a way, if you ever do make it
I'll feel cheated,
robbed of whatever it was I had in you
wronged by fate and fame
idiots will quote you and find themselves urbane
without knowing what to call it
I'll be sick then and burn your books
to keep them from falling into the wrong hands
education of the masses is one thing
but idiots and parrots are another

I think now that you are dead you will become famous
though you made it more difficult by fading away slowly
and leaving a long trail behind you as you went
instead of ending abruptly with a woman in your bed or a needle in your arm
long trails are hard for the stupid and the bored to follow
and you cannot make a hero out of someone who never made a stand
So thank you Buk, for always sitting down.

AcB 04.24.01