I watched the news this morning
and the headline story was about a big, brown bear
that wandered into civilization and created a problem.
The police shot it full of tranquilizers
and moved it up into the mountains.
The next story was about my brother.
My brother, Bill.
Bangkok dead.
I’m thinking now of all the stories people will tell of him
and all the world will tell of him.
Remember this.
Remember that.
And oh god, remember the time he did this.
Or remember the time he did that.
‘72’ is a ripe old age and Thailand was a good choice for an exit.
When I was there I didn’t want to come back either.
After driving the kids to school,
I stopped on PCH and got out of the truck
and walked down to the edge of the water,
and stood for a while to watch some waves break,
trying to make some sense of what happened—
and came to no conclusion.
............At home, the phone keeps ringing.
When I turned to go back from the sea,
I saw my footprints in the sand.
They reminded me somehow of a filmography.
David had one of those.
Even as a trapeze artist with Liv Ullman.
I didn’t see that one.
I wonder what Quentin will say.
I wonder what I will say
or anyone will say, for that matter.
……….The phone keeps ringing in Malibu.
I guess he was found hung,
So I guess he didn’t care about who comes out on top in the NBA,
or Obama’s visit to Cairo,
or whether that big asteroid will hit the earth in 2012.
I couldn’t help thinking of the story about the bear.
Maybe David just needed to go up in the mountains for a while.
David Carradine,
Kung Fu quiet now.
I love you
and I will miss you,
and may God rest your weary soul.
Michael Madsen, de su página web