Wow, look at that head of hairy hair
could he be a beatnik-hippie dude
but his coiffure takes so much work
and hippies and work that can’t be
no, this guy’s hair is who he is and
nothing else will bridge that empty
old shell image uber alles ultimate
branding as a way of life everything
signature as golden calf statue him-
self projected on entire tired world
all one thing sexy dancing girl mind
all the stuff that’s never said spit out
torrent of pornographic fantasy dream
reflecting on the walls that just keep
growing everywhere they try to divide
off so goes onto the back shelf closet
even though it’s been emerging, com-
ing , growing for so long now what is
that secret place we all need how can
this be happening so miraculous and
magical-mysterious how the more we
know the more we don’t know anything
                  (at all).

 

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.