Dad had a cousin Otto Bruijn
who was a magic-natured bear
type who became the mayor
twice of Northfield, New Jersey
after emigrating to the U.S.A.
at 15 and now on youtube.com
I discover Marius Bruijn who is
in Haarlem ancestral home of
both Otto and I as he stands in
front of 5 diamond endless knot
tover kunst, magic art built into
de eeuwen lang, ages long walls
van de Grote Kerk, great church
that they always talked about how
grand it was and still was and is
since I first saw it in 1998 grand
just to sit on the steps outside
and hear the 18th century organ
resonating the whole structure
and space, the walls which I now
see have both pagan & Christian
symbols of a culture in transition
vibrating, sounding, pure, beauty
in bricks built into those old walls.

 

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop, which his Labyrinth titled poems are based on. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.