Olivia Parker's Murderer's Brain and Winehouse

The poem below is inspired by Olivia Parker's photograph.

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I'm still saddened by Amy Winehouse's death.

I didn't know her at all, and to equate her public battle with demons with who she was seems to be a common condition of our culture of celebrity.

Ed Pavlić has a brilliant piece about Winehouse on NewBlackMan.

In the end, what made Winehouse's work so appealing is how she relayed her personal pain into pop tour de forces. The public performance of that pain seemed to consume the culture's fascination with her. My fascination was a lyric one, though I too could not help by turn my head and watch the wreckage.

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For you I was a flame