We have shared the incommunicable experience of war.
We have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top….
In our youths, our hearts were touched with fire.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes

In March, we at Dame Rocket Press were sad to hear of the death of Mr. Pink, an instrumental character (and true “Guy” Rocket) in our title Magic Gardens and the life of its author, Viva Las Vegas.

Here’s an excerpt about him from “Ring of Fire” in Magic Gardens:

For a while Mona, Pink, and I were inseparable. We were the Three Musketeers, broke as a joke but living for adventure and off of plunder and booty. I burned pretty hot on my own, but with these two pirates by my side we were an absolute conflagration.

It’s good to be on fire. All ya gotta do is burn. Some people wait their entire lives and never get to experience it, so don’t go about doing it half-assed. Don’t worry about the inevitable burnout. Don’t worry about anything at all. Just burn, baby, burn.

Mr. Pink was a trusty block of good dry wood. He was whipsmart and misanthropic to the extreme, the perfect foil for Mona’s grandiosity and my naïveté. He was filled with sarcastic bons mots, had a cozy shoulder to cry on, and never let his life be upended by something so pedestrian as love. He was a solid block of good dry wood, very predictable and instrumental in a fire.

Here’s to you, Mr. Pink, and to all who knew and loved you. Thank you for the role you played in this world and in the life of our beloved Miss Viva. May we always think of you when building our own light in life and in the stars, too. You will surely be missed.