She was a stunning presence on the increasingly shabby-before-its-time streets of a once top tier higher education down to lowest level of underground education town....JV was the real Thomas Pynchon who was the real Julia Vinograd....Not that any soul could doppleganger her....Not even Naomi Klein...
My heartfelt thanks to all you Poetic Outlaws out there who have commented on this poem, sent me emails, and most of all signed up to receive a free screening link to next week's 3-day online work-in-progress screening of my 6.5-years-in-the-making documentary on Julia's life and legacy.
Thanks! I remember Julia Vinograd, said hello sometimes as I passed on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley in the late 60s and 70s. Her work of lifting the marginalized, the voices not heard, lives unseen, is still stirring. Thanks for this particular poem, so evocative of street life and the luckier of us response to it.
I could be mistaken, but I believe I discovered this poem in two massive boxes of her poetry that were sitting in my home for a couple of years. I just spoke with Julia's publisher at Zeigesit Press the other day and he did not recall having seen this poem before. So I'm pretty certain it was never published! It's one of those poems that truly embodies the name of my film about Julia and her work--'Between Spirit and Stone'--because it mines the mundane for magic. The best of her writing embraces that liminal space between the concrete and the sublime.
Wow! Amazing juxtaposition of surprising images weaving in and out through the main feeling of resignation to . . . suffering? I like not knowing, exactly.
A WONDER FULL POEM BY A POET IN HER PRIME - BACK THEN IN THE 70s & SHE IS REMEMBERED - OF COURSE!!!
I WAS A BEATNIK/HIPPIE IN THE 60s AND 70s - ON THE EAST COAST -- HANGIN' OUT IN THOMPKIN SQUARE PARK -- BILLY-CLIBBED THERE IN A PEACEFUL SIT-IN 🤔 AND WANDERING AROUND AVENUEs A & B & C AND OF COUSE THE FILLMORE EAST (i worked there for awhile 🤩)
LATER IN THE EARLY 70s I WAS HANGIN' IN THE 55 BAR WITH OLDER MEN (norman mailer😍) (it didn't become a gay bar for many years😎)
I WAS WRITING A LOT BACK THEN AND MET BILL, MAILER's PROTEGE❤️😊 AND SOON AFTER - I WAS CALLED NORMAN MAILER's PROTEGE's PROTEGE!!!👌👍😄😘🥳!!! THEN I MET ANDY WARHOL👩🦳🤪😇🤣🙃
THERE's MUCH MORE - BUT QUITE ENOUGH FOR HERE AND NOW. 🤗✌️😂
Thanks for introducing me to this poet. This is a stunning poem.
Same. Didn't know her, and the poem is excellent.
what he said 👆
What he said 👆
She was a stunning presence on the increasingly shabby-before-its-time streets of a once top tier higher education down to lowest level of underground education town....JV was the real Thomas Pynchon who was the real Julia Vinograd....Not that any soul could doppleganger her....Not even Naomi Klein...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Vinograd
https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/12/05/julia-vinograd-the-berkeley-poet-known-as-the-bubble-lady-dies-at-75
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/vinograd-julia
https://www.betweenspiritandstonethefilm.com/
https://www.betweenspiritandstonethefilm.com/watch/trailer/
https://www.dailycal.org/archives/engaging-and-deeply-human-writing-berkeley-street-poet-julia-vinograd-dies-at-75/article_03bca88b-357f-5737-8290-38788307a9ad.html
https://thestreetspirit.org/2019/05/01/julia-vinograd-peoples-park-poet/
https://96thofoctober.com/articles/julia-vinograd-poems-from-the-book-of-jerusalem/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--ZL-KFowSE
https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2024-07-01/article/50755
https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/Julia_Vinograd
https://jwa.org/blog/bookclub/book-jerusalem-julia-vinograd
Warmly,
Tio Mitchito
TM
Mitch Ritter
Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa
Via
Haste Street renter
1980-199?
Concord, Ca renter\laborer
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!
My heartfelt thanks to all you Poetic Outlaws out there who have commented on this poem, sent me emails, and most of all signed up to receive a free screening link to next week's 3-day online work-in-progress screening of my 6.5-years-in-the-making documentary on Julia's life and legacy.
To the poem I said "yes"
To the poet I said "thank you"
Thanks! I remember Julia Vinograd, said hello sometimes as I passed on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley in the late 60s and 70s. Her work of lifting the marginalized, the voices not heard, lives unseen, is still stirring. Thanks for this particular poem, so evocative of street life and the luckier of us response to it.
I had to read this twice to truly appreciate its beauty and message ❤️
Love her poetry. What book is Street Magic from?
I could be mistaken, but I believe I discovered this poem in two massive boxes of her poetry that were sitting in my home for a couple of years. I just spoke with Julia's publisher at Zeigesit Press the other day and he did not recall having seen this poem before. So I'm pretty certain it was never published! It's one of those poems that truly embodies the name of my film about Julia and her work--'Between Spirit and Stone'--because it mines the mundane for magic. The best of her writing embraces that liminal space between the concrete and the sublime.
Those were great times.
"The Company You Keep."
Looking forward to the documentary when it's released here in NYC.
Me too!!!
An unusual person who was 100% poet. I met her once in Oakland at a reading and we traded chapbooks.
She was 150% poet! ;-)
This is outstanding. Some lines put me in mind of Prufrock — which, for me, is high praise. 🌹
Excellent.
I hear echoes of Allen Ginsberg in this…
Indeed. She was a fan of the beats and wrote a poem about her experience crossing paths with Ginsberg.
Wow! Amazing juxtaposition of surprising images weaving in and out through the main feeling of resignation to . . . suffering? I like not knowing, exactly.
A WONDER FULL POEM BY A POET IN HER PRIME - BACK THEN IN THE 70s & SHE IS REMEMBERED - OF COURSE!!!
I WAS A BEATNIK/HIPPIE IN THE 60s AND 70s - ON THE EAST COAST -- HANGIN' OUT IN THOMPKIN SQUARE PARK -- BILLY-CLIBBED THERE IN A PEACEFUL SIT-IN 🤔 AND WANDERING AROUND AVENUEs A & B & C AND OF COUSE THE FILLMORE EAST (i worked there for awhile 🤩)
LATER IN THE EARLY 70s I WAS HANGIN' IN THE 55 BAR WITH OLDER MEN (norman mailer😍) (it didn't become a gay bar for many years😎)
I WAS WRITING A LOT BACK THEN AND MET BILL, MAILER's PROTEGE❤️😊 AND SOON AFTER - I WAS CALLED NORMAN MAILER's PROTEGE's PROTEGE!!!👌👍😄😘🥳!!! THEN I MET ANDY WARHOL👩🦳🤪😇🤣🙃
THERE's MUCH MORE - BUT QUITE ENOUGH FOR HERE AND NOW. 🤗✌️😂
I was in Berkeley often during these years. This is a wonderful poem. Thanks for letting us enjoy.