Tim, I hardly knew you…… by Al Preciado, painting by Tim Cottengim

By beagarth on November 3, 2009 • ( 0 )

"Untitled, no. 1" oil painting by Tim Cottengim, copyright 2009

Tim I hardly knew you….

by Al Preciado, copyright 2009
for Tim Cottengim

I can still remember those Snake-skin pants, almost painted on to his body,
probably by himself. Jumping up and down slinky Kangaroo crazy
crunked in time to the music, his music, medicine of sound, the salve, the balm
that comforted this waif of a man, this guy fairy from Disneyland, this icon of
cool. Cool because he was so un cool. Cool because the drumbeat he heard
and followed was his own way of being like a cat napping in supreme
satisfaction. He challenged the conviction of what is normal He was only freakish
to those that did not know him To the privileged few of us he was Tim, Timmy,
Sixth son
Wandering lost lamb searching for the holy grail of who
knows what. Sometimes in the middle of night he cried like a wounded animal,
aghast and lamenting , his despair sticking forward like the brim of his cap But
Tim was a stand-up guy, at the drop of a dime or a drop of a hat, driving me in
his beat-up Duct –taped colored stickered compact anywhere, anytime. Tim’s
paintings were powerful, brimming, intense and burning with rage and struggle,
hope and redemption
Stained , gaunt men metamorphosing to butterflies
And that next to last night, as Michael held you close in a bear hug and David,
Rueben and I gazed in wonder, your heart grew as big as a blimp and your
undeniable genius was palpable. And if the Gods of the Grapes dragged you
down, whirl pooling you into the firewater cesspool of hell and the rare clouds
of paradise
Your trembling soul still shines bright
Because you were the true North Star
The anchor of genuine words that held us close to earth…
You were a
tender man, a kind man We go on forward
But we must
remember you
I love you, my brother