Deification 0, Defecation 1

Today is one year to the day since Michael Jackson died. Below is a poem constructed from haikus that I wrote about him after his death. Any genuine fans of him should probably stop reading now. I'm not a fan and my opinion of him may be construed as cynical.

Deification 0, Defecation 1
Michael Jackson died
And everyone pretended
His fame was for song.

The whole world cheered when
Israel pulled out of Jordan.
Did Michael do that?

We will never know.
It was settled out of court
For ten million bucks.

In America,
The law speaks with a whisper,
Money with a shout.

One question occurs:
Why not speak ill of the dead?
Guilt will never die.

But when Michael died
Vigilantes became vigils,
Knives became flowers.

Death beatifies
Even the worst of tyrants.
Listen up, Nixon.

When you breathed your last,
Watergate was forgotten.
China was your wreath.

The dirtiest tricks,
The eighteen minutes of tape,
All wiped clean by death.

So do we forget,
Or do we just want to, lest
His guilt becomes ours?

We are not supposed
To kick a man when he's down,
Even when he's bad.

But should death really
Rewrite the lives of tyrants,
Paedophiles and worse?

You probably know
What I think about this one.
Exhume them and sue them!