Final verdict in: Poetic license renewed.
Mark Schwartz is a kick!
...Joie
Cook, San Francisco, CA
Books
by Mark Schwartz
"And Now Then" published by Beatitude Press

"Poet Duets and Combos" Published by L.L. Maimsu
Mark Schwatz Dream Prose CD
available for sale at
City Lights Books
261 Columbus Avenue at Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
phone: (415) 362-8193
and
The Beat Museum
540 Broadway (at Columbus)
San Francisco, CA 94133
Order Online Or
Call 1-800-KER-OUAC
To Place An Order By Phone
Other books by Mark Swartz

On Third Street Kerouac Revisited
Haikus to Fool With
A Picture is Worth 62 Words
The Joke's on Me, joke book,
Mark Schwartz Explodes
Revolutionary Notebook and
OOP
It was a tie-dye day
and Kaufman was golden dowm the road from the park
it must have been the sun, the crowd, he beat
as he looked everywhere but at me.
I remember him waiting
as if for fog to lift from the over-plagued City
of homeless, of AIDS, of victims of long-ago lands
of Jones and Milk
he was bedshakes and earthquakes
and poetry stages' crowds repeating line
after Kaufman after Eliot
Schwartz shows, Spaghetti Factory huddles
and Kaufman slinks over, waiting for a drunk
and the Chelsea, three year running open
Kaufman and Lynne, elegant and alive
cutting-in to read, Moe on the side
Kaufman on the outside for a Mark Swartz reading
if only I'd told the messenger I'd be glad to see him
we lost him in our light weight
Bob Kaufman could have died after after that episode
now
it's cold
and in Judaic style, I turn
the page of the New York Times 180 degrees to the ground
noting the iddle to say Bob Kaufman
died of emphysema - and not lonliness !
and not alcohol !
and not old age !
the halls of Central Park, 42nd Street library, humming
of rollers and whispers of someone, maybe me gettinf shot.
maybe this means whiskey, or beer. God knows where.
Avoid East 5th Street and maybe I'll live to eat peanut butter
and Kosher jelly with bananas in a boycott against time.
Bob Kaufman, wherever you are, old friend, you live with me
black, black and taking photos of your room within the moon.©Mark Swartz
from The Cafe Review~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, May 17, 2002
Here above plentitude
are the homeless people
reading their People’s Tribune
and drinking cappuccinos
an arc of water in crystal rainbow
bathes their feet
in rivers ending in tributaries
far from the desert of the nomads
where salt lines the tongue
until sand crumbles in corners of eyes
“ will you wear my eyes”
asks the poet Bob Kaufman
in a drunk oblivion chewing a cop’s ear
while Micheline pisses on the cop’s feet
beneath the green corner building in North Beach
clowns wearing street clothes
dream in colored jingle bells
christmas lights and the red and green
of rain soaked streets
and the earthworm crosses the roadwith Eric
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One thing that is good about the war
is that it took one’s mind off the earthquake
which took one’s mind off the drought
which took one’s mind off the homeless
which took one’s mind off of sex
which took one’s mind off.
with Jerry 1/16/91
From: http://www.sfcall.com/issues%202002/5.17.02/schwartz_5_17_02.htm
Mark Schwartz's San Francisco poems
Mark Schwartz's poem for Allen CohenAllen Cohen Tributes and Memories
BACK TO ALLEN COHEN POETRY