by Felix Shafer

You’ve gone past us now.
beloved comrade:
north american revolutionary
and political prisoner
My sister and friend of these 40 years,
it’s over
Marilyn Buck gone
through the wire
out into the last whirlwind.

So begins “The Blue Afterwards: Mourning for Marilyn,” a beautifully moving essay of mourning/remembrance/and reflection by Felix Shafer, longtime activist and friend of Marilyn Buck.

Readers/writers say:

What a beautifully touching memorial tribute to Marilyn!!!
i read it last night and was quite moved by the insights and your really authentic feeling for her life as a woman and revolutionary.
– Jack Hirschman, former poet laureate San Francisco

I felt many things as I made way through it; from exhilaration about what has been accomplished thus far to sadness about what has not; anger at our enemy and pride in being the enemy; sadness for those who have transitioned and deep, deep grief for the loss of this one of our most valuable warriors. You succeeded in evoking her spirit and I could feel and hear her as you described her many attributes …
– Curtis J. Austin, historian, professor, author of, “Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party”

It is quite something. I feel your very personal love for her and also appreciate your ability to contextualize her in the struggles of her time, so many of which she was a part of. Sometimes your writing literally lifts itself off the page–so beautiful …
– Margaret Randall, writer and poet

Shafer’s incomparable meditation on Marilyn Buck is both illuminating and passionately astute to her heroic project of her uniquely engaged, compassionate, and creative politics.
– David Meltzer, poet and teacher

Felix Shafer’s biographical sketch is so much more than just that, his critical analysis of Marilyn’s Buck liberation trajectory adds unknown historical data, with a clear and impassioned eye towards showing us her brilliance and grace. This is a must read to begin to learn about Marilyn and her enormous legacy.
– Susan Rosenberg, former political prisoner & author of “An American Radical: Political Prisoner In My Own Country” due out in March 2011

“The blue afterwards” can be found at marilynbuck.com.