Charles Rammelkamp

DENKMAL

More bemused than outraged
when fans of Michael Jackson took over
the 1862 monument to Orlando di Lasso,
the medieval Belgian composer,
on Munich’s Promenadeplatz –
in front of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof,
where “Jacko” used to stay –
as a memorial to the pop star
after his death ten years before,
Adele nevertheless lamented Orlando’s neglect.

But after the latest accusations of child abuse,
Michael’s music banned from European airwaves,
Adele was disturbed by the hatred she heard,
the sarcastic arguments back and forth.

"Let’s destroy the statues of Wagner –
the anti-Semite – too, and
Benjamin Britten and Oscar Wilde,
with tastes similar to Jackson’s,"
one man sneered.
“Even Beethoven, the misanthrope.
After all, art is only worthwhile
when the artist is a decent human being!”

“Michael Jackson, an artist?
He was merely an entertainer!”

"Art’s not supposed to be entertaining?"

Adelle shook her head.
She’d always admired Orlando di Lasso,
remembering now his Lagrime di San Pietro.
The tears of Saint Peter.


Charles reads "Denkmal":



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Charles confesses: "There are no statues of Adolf Hitler in Germany, of course, and the whole deal with Civil War monuments is an ongoing national trauma in the United States. The same is true in Spain regarding Franco. The weird thing about the Michael Jackson memorial is that the di Lasso statue was commandeered to set it up, but only because it stands outside the hotel where Jackson stayed when in Munich. Maybe his fans thought of it as a temporary memorial to their grief when they first put the photos up, but it’s been over a decade now. In light of recent allegations about the extent of Jackson’s pedophilia, has the time come to dismantle the impromptu memorial? This is above my pay grade."

CHARLES RAMMELKAMP is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore and Reviews Editor for The Adirondack Review. A chapbook of poems, Jack Tar’s Lady Parts, is available from Main Street Rag Publishing. Another poetry chapbook, Me and Sal Paradise, was recently published by FutureCycle Press. An e-chapbook has also recently been published online Time Is on My Side (yes it is).