Harlem Palimpsest - What Is Seen And Overheard At Six A.M., West 142nd Street, August 1984 Poem by Warren Falcon

Harlem Palimpsest - What Is Seen And Overheard At Six A.M., West 142nd Street, August 1984



for Kim Wonsook*

Palimpsest =

1: writing material (as a parchment or tablet)used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased
2: something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface

Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsē stos scraped again




Old women

lean out windows

swaying between

backyard buildings


old clothes lines,

gray string

thin

thin


'What's will when

the window slams shut?

Just old cake thrown on the street


Purple flower boxes

woman's hands

folding letters

sweet soap smells

ontop steps

wet shoes full of wind



Overheard:


'Just catching a cool breeze is all.

Street don't belong to me...'


'She may be crazy but she's polite.

She puts her hand over her mouth

when she coughs...'


'Don't be flattered a

breeze blows in your window

Run! Run like hell'



Shouts overhead:


Keep offa my clean floor

Lay outta my porcelain sink

Ya hear me? !

That mirror's not gonna change your face



What is read:


'After so very many years, it's pointless to

look back on it.

Give this looking back a rest!

A clear breeze the world over

-what limit could it have? '

- Setcho, zen master & poet


What is written in response:


In ice streaks upward

here's breath for you

even this ink on paper

this flesh on mind

this writing on air


Why try be happy/sad?

don't affect it

disinfect your mind

play possum

Who's somebody's darlin'?

Jus' time and

gism taken on flesh

dead soon enough


so pace yourself

You've run backward too long

Don't want it

as does the

filthy river

reflecting

without

acknowledgment

Sunday, March 7, 2010
Topic(s) of this poem: imagism
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Warren Falcon

Warren Falcon

Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA
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