Neeli Cherkovski reads Eric Walker's poem Christmas Morning 92

Описание: Filmed by Sally Larsen at Neeli Cherkovski's house in San Francisco. SELECTED POEMS by ERIC WALKER. Edited and Introduced by Raymond Foye. Afterword by Neeli Cherkovski. The brief life of Eric Walker (1964-1994) was also a remarkably productive one. He was a close friend and a peer to many of the important poets of San Francisco and Berkeley in his day: Bob Kaufman, Philip Lamantia, Tisa Walden, Howard Hart, Kirby Doyle, Neeli Cherkovski, Julia Vinograd, and many others.

Christmas Morning 92

Bringing it all back home,

Christmas in the asylum,

settled in the air is cold

and sheltered, there is a

component of silence mixed w/ joy

and grief, and anguish,

we are waiting to open our presents,

stacks of green and red boxes await us,

past eleven and the fury driven bows are

slashed and eighty-five mental patients are

busy opening their packages, listening to Déjà vu

on my walkman, their dragging their paper with them,

and it’s simply crazy to watch them tear and rip

their packages, happiness comes in all colors,

Father of Woodstock you are here with us,

blind colors tasted from your eyes, butterflies

and star-dust, making new rules for the old year,

bellies and laughter and Santa Clause is a woman this year,

I know her, she is a group counselor, I have tasted good

cheer from the bottled rainbow, I have erased my mind

in a tasteless tomorrow, where is the wheel and where

is the blood? Shouting my name in the sky’s clay,

dancing with memory on a sun-stained lake, crying

inside a mirror of windows, surmising the

absolute terror of being alone, they are smiling now,

misplaced names in a bag of silk, and no one cares what

is happening in my mind, cat-calls and poisoned rivers,

they have burned and hurried my sanity in flesh and dreams

of diverse institutions,

with but one open call: Merry Christmas to ALL!!!

and for those who’ve lost their faith,

God is born again today, and we have all

Been here before!

Eric Walker