Kill the Vulture!

Not all inspiration is good. Point in fact - I've had this Michael Jackson song stuck in my head since last Thursday. I'd let my dog out to potty late that night and found myself dumbfounded by the big silvery moon that looked about ready to tip forward out of the sky and drop on top of my head. For some reason, the sight of that moon put Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" into my brain. And like a diseased vulture, tenacious and contagious, that damned song has circled my mind ever since. I'm singing it incessantly. My co-workers, my husband, my friends, they all threaten murder.

Now, I like old-school Michael - back when he was a still a beautiful black man who could honestly sing, with a straight face, that the kid was not his son. But I didn't pay much attention to him after that, and I only know "Man in the Mirror" because it came out when I was still listening to Top 40 radio. Sadly, all I can remember is the refrain. As you can imagine, I'm going flipping insane. Did I mention the murder threats?

The question of course is why did a full moon, big and bright and beautiful, inspire a Michael Jackson song to climb up from the recesses of my subconscious? I've been considering the answer for days now. Clearly, the answer couldn't be as simple as the word association from "man in the moon" to "man in the mirror." Nor is it as trite as the fact that Michael Jackson's countenance slightly resembles that face imprinted on the surface of the moon, all pale and puffy, the mouth open in a perpetual "o" as if crying out in pain at a self-imposed crotch-grab.

No, I think the answer to my dilemma is more esoteric. So esoteric in fact that I really have no idea why the moon and "The Man in the Mirror" have become irrevocably linked in my mind. And I don't think I'll be able to get this insidious song out of my head until I figure it out. A shiny nickel to the person who can help me kill the vulture!