Editor's Note: Prince Rogers Nelson died yesterday, April 21, 2016. Here is an elegy for him by Aaron Belz, who lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Belz is the author of three books of poetry: The Bird Hoverer (BlazeVOX), Lovely, Raspberry (Persea), and Glitter Bomb (Persea).
If any rocker could return from the beyond, you could,
sweet Prince, crossing the Styx on that odd symbol
you invented, its wake an ocean of violets in bloom,
but I imagine you’ll be fine dazzling the underworld
with neon purple lasers neither evil nor divine, your fingers
screaming higher and higher to the sky, to Persephone’s
delight—her great delight, so she would take you
to her castle, and you just wouldn’t believe your eyes.
