CITY SHARMAN
Cinematic Poetry collaboration by Laurence Fuller and Roy Eisenstein
I first met Roy Eisenstein on the edge of the city in Los Angeles, where the sea washes up against the Metropolis and brings with it ghosts, sunshine, sand, water, and time.
I wrote poetry everyday by the pier, drinking coffee. As the pages flcked by; I noticed a man each morning with a hat and glasses handing treats to dogs as they walked past. All the owners would greet him and he sat by the doorway of a cafe I would frequent. Coffee and conversations ensued as he told me stories of his time in Vietnam ~ thoughts of broken windows and raisnstorms, and a life dedicated to writing.
He would send me the poems he'd written that day and I shared my cinematic poetry.
Out of that came City Shaman.
CITY SHAMAN
traffic stains
horns blaring
crowded sidewalks
alone
the city shaman
must always descend
before rising
into a thinner atmosphere
where dreams can breathe
flying solo
missing human embraces
soft kisses
body warmth shared
still the quest is always
the quest
the holy grael
golden fleece
answers to questions
creating a map
a diagram of
how to navigate
through this
labyrinth of thoughts
feelings
how empty a pocket
misplaced or lost memories
hours wasted asleep
in this urban circus
where madness is the cure
Janus waits at the gates
holding keys
A poem of fate
fading moon that sunk
evils of the night before
into salt and sea
opaque in the daylight
so I descend
down to the roots
up through the tree
to the leaves
and then the ethers
not sure if I’m leaving
or coming home