The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust

News had just come over
didn’t know what time it was
news guy wept and told us.

I leaned back on my radio
came back like a slow voice
I had to phone someone.

It ain’t easy to get to heaven
he took it all too far
really quite out of sight.

It was cold and it rained
such a holy place to be
my brain hurts a lot.

Darkness and dismay
look out your window
I can see his light.

Oh no love, you’re not alone
gimme your hands
I’ll help you with the pain.

This poem was put together out of lyric fragments taken from David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust LP, a “cut-up” technique similar to what Bowie himself was sometimes known to use.

Jody Porter is poetry editor of the Morning Star. His work has appeared in Magma, Best British Poetry and elsewhere. Originally from Essex, he now lives in London where he runs events at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival.