in memoriam
We ate at Joshua tree in Woodstock
Where you had arrived from New Paltz
Headed for a poetry reading at the Colony Café
Peter the anarchist, the clumsy alchemist
Alone, a teacher at the “School of Nite”
Verses falling from deep in his body
Each line a breakdown, death and resurrection
Whispering,” welcome to the dark whose spiral Delineates the esoteric axis of a hermit crab”
We spoke of Ira Cohen reminiscing in Saugerties
I’m still searching for you through the empire of delight
You left yourself in your last will and testament
Your many books, your eyeglasses and your hats
The magic of those mismatched words
Flow as a drumbeat, every stanza a repressed desire
Van Gogh Ear, Baudelairean melting tiger
The rhythms of a wild shaman’s last dance
Omnia Tua Tecum Portas
All what you had, you carried with you!