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Tommy (King poem)

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"Tommy"
Short story by Stephen King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)memento mori, confessional poetry
Publication
Published inPlayboy, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
Publication typepoem
PublisherPlayboy, Charles Scribner's Sons
Media typePrint
Publication dateMarch, 2010
Chronology
 
Mister Yummy
 
The Little Green God of Agony

"Tommy" is a narrative poem by Stephen King, first published in the March, 2010 edition of Playboy,[1] and later collected and re-introduced in the November 3, 2015 anthology The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.[2] In the new introduction King disputes the famous adage (attributed to many celebrities, including Grace Slick, Robin Williams, Paul Kantner, Joan Collins, and Dennis Hopper): "If you remember the Sixties, you weren't there."

The poem is free verse and steeped in the slang and cultural references of the 1960s, a decade which encompassed all of King's teenage years. It describes the unique burial of the titular young man, a hippie who died of leukaemia, and the subsequent lives of his closest friends.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ McGarrigle, Dale (2010-02-28). "King free-verse published in March Playboy". Bangor Daily News. Archived from the original on 2021-01-08. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  2. ^ Ulin, David L. (2015-11-06). "Review: Stephen King's 'Bazaar of Bad Dreams' pulls us in and then out". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
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