To J.D. Sallinger

I know it's been about a month and this is kind of a random post, but I was feeling tragically inspired today, so I thought I'd share it. J.D. Sallinger passed away a few days ago (Januarary 27th, 2010.) He was 91 years old. His last published work was in 1965. I wrote a little ode to him. Click the link to read it.

J.D. Sallinger -

"What really knocks me out is a book, when you're all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."

If only I could've done that every time... I guess this will have to do.

So much of childhood innocence has filled your pages and our hearts. And like a child, all your questions still remain. Past, present, future. Generations will come and go, but this child will never leave us. So how do we honor you? You prince of the fields, hidden away for so long. You with the stoic essence of a martyr, an ardent wander through Robert Frost's woods. This ruckus of your death, the chanting of the bells, waking the Bananafish! Your sick society has found you! Have they no shame? When will the phonies learn? And yet, here I too herald you with apotheosis. It seems then I'm still learning. So what can I do to carry on your silent discourse? To fathom the depths of this love and squalor? Perhaps it's unattainable, and maybe that's what you realized all those years in solitude. Still I'm sorry that your disaffection hasn't solicited a more eloquent distortion. Conjured more inspired wandering of our own. Lord knows you tried - all those children you caught at the cliff's edge, I among them. With each day I fail you, but I am grateful for your immanence just the same. You shot for the impossible. To never sellout in this 24/7 supermarket. Half-price people and full-price friends, discount love and buy-one-get-one ideas. Standing there absurdly in this roundabout checkout, you outside looking in through the Glass - it's clear we are all phonies next to you. Unwavering till the end, may you now rest in peace.

"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry." (Catcher in the Rye)

- Kevin Davis