For Poetry Friday, instead of an Easter-themed poem (as you might expect), we're going with a different occasion. A fauxccasion, actually.
In his collection Fauxccasional Poems, Daniel Scott Tysdal commemorates events that never occurred. Each poem is a tribute to such a fictional event, such as today's poem, "Tell Me How."
Reached via social media, Tysdal recalls the thought process behind this fauxcassional ode to Buddy Holly:
This is actually one of the few poems in Fauxccasional Poems that did not start as a fauxccasional poem. At the time I wrote it, my wife was living in Iowa City for a post-doc. On my way to visit her after months apart, this little boy on the flight exclaimed, "It's magic," sparking this poem for the love of my life. I wanted to include it in the book, but, since I had already included a love poem dedicated to my wife, I needed to give this one a "faux" frame. I went with the Buddy Holly angle because I really just liked the idea of him surviving.
Please enjoy.
Tell Me How
Composed by Buddy Holly, January 24, 1986, for his wife Maria Elena Holly, on the occasion of his flight home from New York after his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Originally published in the liner notes for Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits: Volume 3. MCA, 1988.
“It’s magic!” squeals the boy across
the airplane’s aisle, his explanation
for flight. I couldn’t agree more, returning
to you. Each day, during this week apart,
I was a dark-trapped rabbit
eager to be revealed to the vast
applause of your smile. Tell me, how magic
is the airplane in making possible
this trick? How airplane-like is magic
with the flights of its surprise?
How upward lifting are the tricks
you perform? With a wave of your hand,
you transform all that ever was
for us and will be, every moment
in parting and mile apart, into the now
of our first and last touch
and every touch between.
