I dreamed of a department store selling wounds, some raised up by fluttering wings, some edged with delicate lace, some under spotlights backed by mirrors. It was an expensive store. Each wound came with a story. Immaculate shopmen carried rolled scrolls on silver platters to read the history of wounds in low precise voices. The shoppers paused and asked their friends’ advice as if they were choosing diamond necklaces or ballgowns. Some of the wounds still bled, some had healed scars that ached in winter. Veterans also shopped there, feeling their own wounds were out of fashion and wanting something better. Drinking fountains ran with bright red blood. Broken hearts dangled from chandeliers, who'll take you seriously at a party without a broken heart? A large silver-green abalone shell full of glass eyes, run them thru your fingers, what do you see? There were no price tags. Each wound came at its own cost. You went on paying and paying. The store of wounds was always full. I dreamed nobody could live without one.
Hello everyone. Today is the day that you can finally hear Julia, David Lerner, Vampyre Mike Cassell, and a potpourri of Babarian readings via the following never-heard-before audio recordings that will be offered as thank-you gifts for your tax-deductible donation in support of the in-progress feature documentary, Julia Vinograd: Between Spirit and Stone.
• An entire evening of Café Babar readings featuring 13 poets recorded on June 23, 1988.
• Poet Bucky Sinister reading his essay about the Café Babar, Julia Vinograd, Poetry Heckler from Our Lady of Telegraph Avenue: Tributes to Julia Vinograd (Zeitgeist Press).
• Julia reciting 13 poems from ‘The Book of Jerusalem’ that director Ken Paul Rosenthal recorded in her apartment in 1991.
Order your poetry recordings here—and thank you for supporting the film!
Julia wrote more than 70 volumes of poetry in her lifetime--and this poem is my favorite. It's visual, visceral, and visionary.
who'll take you seriously at a party without a broken heart?
So beautiful