Street Magic
By: Julia Vinograd
I have seen screams deserted by their owners, wandering the streets looking for a way home, any home. I have seen torn off masks with parts of faces still twitching inside them. I have seen a cold wind trying us on like coats but we can’t keep it warm. I have seen shiny briefcases full of slammed doors keeping everyone out. I have seen a fleet of wild shopping carts go hunting each night. I have seen lover’s hands flowering over flesh till elevators go down on each other and drainpipes clog up with roses. I have seen a TV commercial for tears playing on the inside of mirror shades. I have seen junky veins made into tightrope wires walked so high in the death-defying air without a net, only spangles and sawdust. I have seen tarot cards stapled to telephone poles like band flyers or desperate pleas for housing. Usually the hanged man. Sometimes the fool. All we have left. I have seen the tortured street where twisting magic hurts worse than arthritis, (so many won’ts beating against our will) and worst of all the magic works.
Street poet Julia Vinograd emerged from the 1960s Free Speech movement fighting state oppression with bubbles instead of bricks. She pushed through multiple disabilities to produce over seventy collections of poetry that championed marginalized voices.
Filmmaker Ken Paul Rosenthal will present a free, online work-in-progress screening of his feature documentary, Julia Vinograd: Between Spirit and Stone for three days: Friday, August 14 to Sunday, August 16. To receive an exclusive screening link, please join the film newsletter. To learn more about the film and to watch the trailer and preview clips, visit the film website.
Thanks for introducing me to this poet. This is a stunning poem.
read with her a number of times in the mid-late 80s - always deep, with a healthy does of wit and humor - Always loved this piece!