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No one knows what it takes to give birth to a poem, that thing that grows and swells and comes agonizingly forced, through such a small opening, one crushing contraction at a time. No one except the poet.

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This poem is in the new Selected Works by Julia Vinograd, A Symphony for Broken Instruments, 328 374 pages. You can find it at www.Zeitgeist-Press.com along with much of the work of the Babarian poets.

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Feb 28, 2023·edited Feb 28, 2023Author

Awesome, thanks for that! I'll also link to it the original post.

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This is brilliant. Heard Patti Smith's reading and loved the energy and force of the poet's voice. Looking forward to searching out more if her work! ❤️

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Mar 1, 2023Liked by Poetic Outlaws

Marvelous! *claps

Made me lol and there was even a "Good lord!" at the end.

What she said

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Feb 28, 2023Liked by Poetic Outlaws

A glowing jewel in poetic litterature that is also totally dismissed in my country is Jan Kerouac. Jack would have been proud of her.

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What an exquisite ... indictment

IN 2003, shortly before I was diagnosed with seriously life-threatening MRSA, this leaped out of me one day as fast as I could write it ...

I AM A MAN

I am a man.

I said,

I am a man!

What means it,

being a man?

A man is a warrior:

he lives by a code of honor,

his word is reliable,

his actions confirm his words,

his commitment is holiness,

his enemies are welcome at his hearth,

he fears but moves forward,

he cries and gets up again,

he hates but forgives,

he loves and let’s go,

he doubts but trusts God,

he’s a good friend,

he seeks resolutions,

he demands nothing,

he risks everything,

he regrets his mistakes,

he seeks to make amends,

he puts others’ welfare first,

he accepts apologies truly made,

he expects nothing back,

he lives ready to die,

he laughs when he “should” scream,

he screams when he “should” laugh,

he sings just because,

he shrugs off insults,

he learns from misfortune,

he cusses God for making him,

he wishes he was done,

he loves children and animals,

he relishes a woman’s scent,

he smiles when he’s content,

he knows God’s his master,

he walks in rainbows,

his garden is the world,

his way is nature,

he loves fishing,

his wife is his soul,

his food is life,

his pay is whatever he receives.

Yep, he’s crazy.

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To this long and strange trip! I remember the Bubble Lady from People's Park days.

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fAb! Thanks for this wonderful intro to Julia Vinograd’s work. 👏♥️👏

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I love the sense of sticking it to literary gatekeepers. Had enough of them myself lately...

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LOL!, Kapow!!, Exquisite!!!

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The Second brilliant Lady, introduced by Poetic Outlaws, that is not available in libraries in my country. The First was Diane di Prima. Well. Thank God for bookstores on the internet. I also found Internet Archive. Brilliant on line library 💜

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Julia Reminds me of Bukowski

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Me too! Loved hearing her read - such a great poem too.

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