A lot of people still have strong feelings about
John Denver, but I can’t say I do, or at least,
they’re not good ones. Still, though I don’t remember
where I was when I heard the news, it’s always
a shock when a celebrity dies. It’s like the face
falling off a beloved mountain, like Mount Rushmore
peeling itself off into the salt flats or an inland sea
or whatever it is they have there in South Dakota.
A lot of people feel strongly about South Dakota,
have a propensity toward Laura Ingalls Wilder,
but I can’t say I do, though if I had to toss
a balloon made from a pig’s bladder with
any dead celebrity, I guess she’s the one.

Not John Denver.