Magic and Loss (to borrow a line from Lou Reed)

Image: Sire London

When I first heard this beautiful, painful and elegiac recording years ago, I was instantly transported back to a time in my life when I was very young and lost a very dear friend to suicide — I remember upon first learning of this, that I drank too much, passed out (the only time in my life I can remember doing so) and woke up crying, still trying to comprehend it.

As the years have passed, I’m still not sure that I have ever fully recovered.

Recovered as in: from the loss — from the brutal harshness of the details.

Recovered as in: how someone could suddenly just vanish from my life.

Recovered as in: my innocence felt lost to me, even more than losing my virginity in some ways, because I was now someone who was intimately familiar with death — and it felt as if — death now knew ‘where’ to find me.

I’m thinking of this now because as I am preparing to move to the UK, I am going through papers and letters, cards and notes that I have kept through these many years and geographical moves — and I came across a card from this person, a “Merry Christmas” card and I broke into tears — it felt like being swept away right back to that moment of discovery, when my dear friend Roger died by putting a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.

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An Ethereal Girl in a Material World
An Ethereal Girl in a Material World

Written by An Ethereal Girl in a Material World

Former ballet dancer. Longtime goth girl. Instagram: ethereal_girl_material_world_

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