A Look At Michael Jackson's New Poem 'Planet Earth'

The newly released Michael Jackson album This It It, a twenty track, two-CD set accompanying the release of the movie of the same name, features one of Jackson's poems, called "Planet Earth." The poem is rich with deep (if cliched) metaphysical questions, and, as you could probably guess, is a call to environmental awareness. James Bearden, the music supervisor of Jackson's This Is It tour, told MTV that the theme refers, in part, to the urgent need for more environmental awareness:

"[Jackson] wanted the world to know that this may be it when it came to seeing him tour, and also that if we don't start paying attention to the world around us now, then it will be it for the Earth too."

The critics have, by in large, been pretty kind to the poem. Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail called it "unsophisticated but poignant." Dan Aquilante of The New York Post described it as "hokey at times, but there is a childlike quality that emerges after a few listens." The less diplomatic Toronto Star called it "vapid." And Time Magazine simply said of it, "consider yourself warned."

Here's the full text of "Planet Earth." You can listen to a recording of Jackson reading it here, in his typical breathless, dramatic speaking voice.

Planet Earth, my home, my place
A capricious anomaly in the sea of space
Planet Earth, are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid

Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn't true
You are my sweetheart, soft and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes, caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.

In my veins I've felt the mystery
Of corridors of time, books of history
Life songs of ages throbbing in my blood
Have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood
Your misty clouds, your electric storm

Were turbulent tempests in my own form
I've licked the salt, the bitter, the sweet
Of every encounter, of passion, of heat
Your riotous color, your fragrance, your taste
Have thrilled my senses beyond all haste

In your beauty I've known the how
Of timeless bliss, this moment of now.

Planet Earth, are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid

Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn't true
You are my sweetheart, soft and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes, caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.

Planet Earth, gentle and blue
With all my heart, I love you.

So what do you think? I'm thankful that Jackson toned down his sentimentality a bit for the poem, avoiding the sort of statements that mar the other environmentally conscious piece on the album, "Earth Song," which asks "What about crying whales?" and "What about elephants, have we lost their trust?" And parts of the poem are genuinely interesting. The third stanza is a full on love song to the planet, and it's hard not to read it as a little steamy:

I've licked the salt, the bitter, the sweet
Of every encounter, of passion, of heat
Your riotous color, your fragrance, your taste
Have thrilled my senses beyond all haste

Licked? That's an interesting choice, to say the least.

Despite its faults, Jackson's devoted fans will probably eat up "Planet Earth." And it isn't the first time that an overabundance of love on Jackson's part made the rest of us--and maybe even the elephants--a little uncomfortable.

 

Comments

[Gloria Netto]

always loved anything he did and was there in good and bad for him he's just awesome to me.

[olivesforbreakfast]

2. jessicajuliette, you say IT WAS HIS VISION THAT TOOK HIM TO DIZZYING HEIGHTS, HOOD BE DAMNED.. (AS IT SHOULD BE). here i disagree. MJ surely did care. he was in league with the local kids in a lot of ways. he never forgot to mention that he picked up the moonwalk on the street, for example. he also never demonstrated condescension toward his fans.

also j.juliette wrote: IMO BAD was "just" another great work by a talented genius.. everything he presented was brilliant,and over the top, that as the beauty of it.

just about every third day i have a new MJ favorite song. Bad rides the top somedays as my favorite video. your comment makes me laugh. 'just' another great work by a talented genius..

today i'm trying to understand what possessed arnie klein to talk about certain things with TMZ. it's too weird for me..

[olivesforbreakfast]

jessicajuliette has posted the observation that MJ, in the early years, 'an unformed, uninformed fresh face kid'. i am rereading margo jefferson's 2006 book about him, and as MJ had said himself, i'm not sure that MJ was ever a fresh faced kid as such. this relates to the discussion of his use of a 25 cent word like capricious. MJ lived in his own universe which as some exotic mix of deep experience and naivete and whatever else. but there is a certain brand of education which i will continue to feel was lacking. like the time in front of 70000 fans he thanked them from the 'abyss' of his heart. clearly a thesaurus driven moment if ever there was one. and no, personally, i don't compare emerging as a singular pop star sensation, brilliant as he was, with the grueling discipline that goes into becoming a doctor or lawyer.

re oprah not being a deep thinker. she might not be. but she's a deep something. maybe a deep-pocketed thinker; she sure has the power to get herself heard at this point. and sometimes she is great. not always my cuppa but she has my props.

[Cherubim]

Michael Jackson was, indeed, a poet and so much more.
Sometimes, for just a little while, God allows
one of her Angels to come to Earth to sing
to us and teach us how to love one another.
But then, of course, she calls them back to
Heaven ever so much too soon.
One such Angel was Michael Jackson.

[MosheDayanHero]

Would work as a pop song lyrics.
Tangential relationship to poetry (of "Moon in June" species) as a stand-alone poem.

[michelesda]

As pop song lyric, set to a good tune, great; as poem, main significance is that Michael Jackson wrote it. If the kid next door had written it, you'd say that's nice Timmy, now go back to your videogames...

[EllaUmbrella]

Excellent and touching poem. Michael was such a beautiful person, inside and out.

I feel for the haters -- the only person you TRULY hate is yourself.

[MosheDayanHero]

"Michael was such a beautiful person, inside and out."

MJ was a talented performer and a very good pop song writer.
But let's leave his personal life out of the realm of beautiful, shall we.
There's considerable evidence to the contrary. See the court documents if unsure.

[nisha]

Beautiful response to extortion!

[situationcritical]

I've used the handle "Capricious Anomaly" which came directly from this poem for about 7 years.

How is this new?

[magnoliabird]

I saw the movie Saturday and was thrilled to have the opportunity to see this. The theatre was packed out and everyone was anticipating its start. Some youngsters dressed in the black fedora, sequinced gloves and the high-water pants. Old, young, all races...it was beautiful. I must admit I shed some tears while watching this and walked out of the theatre trying to keep reality in focus and understanding that, yes, MJ is dead. Gosh, it still is hard for my mind to realize. Anyway, this movie was tops and there was Michael, looking good, moving good, and in command of what he wanted and how he wanted the sound to be. Those who stated he was not well...near death...looking sick, etc. etc., go sit on a tack! You are only looking for your 2 seconds of fame. Michael was looking like Michael and sharp mentally.

RIP MJ

[johnsopinion]

Thank you for relating your experience.
It means a lot to me as I will probably
see it only when it makes television.

I KNEW he was the best and you have
helped solidify that belief.
He was a beautiful old soul.

[moodigirl]

I hope you were successful at keeping reality in check because I wasn't. I'm glad I went, but was a little sad as the ending drew near and it hit me like a mack truck, that hey, this concert never happened. He actually died!!

It's been 4 months and I still can't make it sound right in my head. Maybe I never will.

[olivesforbreakfast]

a friend of mine, nils wieland, poet and musician, wrote this poem and sent yesterday:

Quest

Maybe Michael's grasping reach
His heavenly preaching, reaching out

His slim & bold Shakespearian reciting
Unto a world's hungry, lonely crowd

Was not up to sublimest standards
Of a smart & happy few, still

Sincerest tones of angel voices
Are traced in there, are shining through

He was a seeking friendly friend, yet
Life's desert could not quench his thirst

Offering us through blood & sweat
A quest in nursing mankind's curse

We, remaining left without him
Must in return now sing his praise

And face the scars, the crucifixion
Of a soul too soon adrift in space.

[Ryan Barner]

The poem was actually first printed in the "Dangerous" CD booklet in 1991. It was also included in his book of poetry, "Dancing The Dream," which came out in 1992. So the poem is not new at all. However, this is the first time the public is hearing Michael recite the poem.

[olivesforbreakfast]

2nd question for john lundberg: i'm curious to know why you mentioned the spoken version of this poem (highlighted click to youtube) and not the version with string orchestration?

was it simply because you didn't have access to the orchestrated version?

the music behind any words makes an enormous difference. remember when steve allen, back in the 50s, recited bee bop a loo la without music? it sounds daft. totally crazy. but with music, it made perfect sense.

similar thing here. with the music behind it, the poem becomes more ruminative, more spacious, more of an entrance into a reverie of some kind, or dream, than a statement.

[olivesforbreakfast]

yo. john lundberg. were you disagreeing with the inclusion of phrases like crying whales and losing the trust of the elephants by saying you were glad MJ toned down the sentimentality?

i'm as against sentimentality as the next guy but i have to disagree with you here. the whales are crying, my brother, and they've been crying for a long time. haven't you read theories about why they beach themselves? at least recently, it is theorized that it has something to do with sonic maneuvers beneath the sea that rupture and totally violate their own very sensitive sonar communication systems. i don't think it's sentimental to say they are crying. in fact, i think it's an understatement and if anthropomorphizing their state of mind in this way, to say they are crying, was MJ's way of getting an important point across, it's ok with me.

is there some trans-species vocabulary that describes non-human reactions, ie that of whales, dolphins, etc, that lead up to something so horrific and shocking as the decision to suicide on a beach?

if so, i would respectfully ask you to tell everyone about it. personally, i think crying whales got the point across in a dignified way.

[3fingerbrown]

Bronze medal in a middle-school Earth Day poetry contest.

[Nanaama]

My favourite MJ poem is about his loneliness, which was present in most of his lyrics. This poem comes as a voiceover in his song "Will You Be There" originally written for the " Free Willie" movie. The whole song is like a prayer (and I am not even religious) The song starts with a little Beethoven intro.Love it.

[Ryan Barner]

"Will You Be There" actually wasn't written for the movie. The song came out in 1991, two years before the movie was released. It was included in the movie mostly because the soundtrack was the first release on his new label, MJJ Records.

[Cia2]

Michael Jackson was Love personified. We were blessed to have had him with us for a time, and we are blessed to have his work with us still.

I can't say I understand those who feel compelled to criticize him. They live in a different world where tearing down another makes some kind of sense.

Nor do I understand the author of this piece who feels uncomfortable with Michael's "overabundance of love."

What makes me happy is to join with the vast majority of people on this board and across the globe who genuinely appreciate Michael Jackson's efforts, his talent, and his beingness.

Love on, Michael. Thank you.

[hoocheekoo]

I don't understand it either. I never have and I never will.

[Ecoutez]

Thank you very much...you have expressed my exact feelings about Michael. He left so much to us and the world needs his healing spirit now...more than ever