This is How I Want to Remember Michael Jackson

a poem for the King of Pop on the 10th anniversary of his death

Michael Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — Image by Angelo Giordano from Pixabay

This is how I want to remember Michael Jackson.

I want to call my friend Jenny
on my white Princess phone in my bedroom.

I want to hear her dad’s voice on the other end
hollering for Jenny to pick up the other line.

I want to hear my dad’s voice
telling me that I’ve been on the phone too long.

I want to walk from my house to Jenny’s.

I want to climb the steps to her attic bedroom and jump on her bed
— but not too high, because there’s the danger of hitting your head on the attic roof.

I want to sit in front of the television with Jenny
waiting for the World Premiere of Thriller on MTV.

I want my own damn MTV.

I want to read again and again and again, all the Michael Jackson photos and newspaper clippings
adorning every square inch of Jenny’s walls, ceiling, and floor.

I want to tell my father that The Gloved One
is so worth a $30 concert ticket.