In this episode Mark pays tribute to one of the most influential artists, songwriters, and musicians of the 20th Century: the late-great David Bowie – who this year would have celebrated his 75th birthday had he not died from liver cancer at his home in New York in 2016. All throughout his life Mark has been both entertained and inspired by David Bowie, and he been a fan of his acting and music career for many years; however, as a result of David Bowie’s death in 2016, Mark became even more inspired and influenced by the man and the icon – so much so that Mark was inspired to write and publish a collection of short stories, “Playing God”, that featured a mysterious “Man in Black” character who looked remarkably like David Bowie but who was not David Bowie… but who wore David Bowie’s appearance in tribute to him, for some reason. And over the years Mark has also written several poems and has gone on pilgrimages that hopes pays tribute to one of his musical heroes: the one and the only, David Bowie.
Over the course of his life
he excited, he electrified, he entertained,
and he enriched the world through
his gift of creating art and music
that instantly struck and stayed
in the heart and in the mind of people,
like a bolt of lightning from the sky,
that made people feel, think,
and imagine things that they
may never have felt, thought,
nor dreamt of before.
He had a voice, he had a spirit,
he had a charm, a charisma, a presence
that could immediately captivate
crowds of fans and make them want
to sing and dance and lift up
their eyes and their hands,
because he was able to make
people feel as if they
could reach out and touch
the energy of a star
that could inspire them with a purpose
that was able to show just how varied
and full of colour each of us are -
and to this day he and his music
makes us consider a variety of possibilities,
including whether there really is
Life on Mars.
He was a man who was not afraid of change,
nor of changing his identity
and how he was perceived...
he was a man who was not afraid
of experimentation
nor of collaboration with fellow artists
who he jived with and felt as if
they understood him
and also spoke the language of magic,
imagination and inspiration that he did.
He was a hero, and he still is...
he was, he is, and he always will be
an icon and a god of music in the eyes
of millions of people around the world -
and who he was and what he did
was all that he ever wanted to be:
a man who transcended
but who was also connected to the world,
a man who left an indelible legacy,
a man who gave us all a part of his soul
to remember him by,
a man who had he not died would
today have celebrated turning 75,
a man whose face we will forever see,
a man whose songs will be listened to
by generation after generation on repeat:
the man, the legend, the one and the only
David Bowie.
markthepoet.me 