John Prine, fishing and grief

Lately, since I heard he's been battling this virus, I've been playing John Prine songs on my guitar out in the backyard in the evening - to help understand the world a little better and as a way of praying for Mr. Prine.  I couldn't bring myself to play last night then I when I was getting ready for bed I looked at my phone and saw that he had passed earlier in the day.  How do you grieve losing a person you've never talked to or met?  Tears are alright and help, talking to friends helps, playing and listening to music helps, as does some anger and going for a walk.  But time does too.  So does writing about it. Like grieving the loss of Guy Clark or Johnny Cash, someone so totally influential across many different tapestries that it brings so many people together. He's not suffering anymore and I really do hope that as the last song on his final album says,

“When I get to heaven, I'm gonna shake God's hand

Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand

Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock 'n' roll band

Check into a swell hotel; ain't the afterlife grand?

And then I'm gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale

Yeah, I'm gonna smoke a cigarette that's nine miles long

I'm gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl

'Cause this old man is goin' to town”

Sadly he's not the only one that has left and will leave us during this season of horrible disease so I think grief is a totally appropriate for a fishing blog.  Mr. Prine accompanies me most days while building rods and while on the water.  In fact, a quirky little story is that after I heard that he liked to fish I wrote him a letter saying that I'd love to take him fishing if he's ever in the area.  I never heard back but that's okay.  I like to think that we've fished together a few times through the kindness and care of his music.