memory man

volume two

By Donald Cohen

Poetry, 176 pages
ISBN: 978-1-59948-178-4
$14.95

 

This is Volume One of a three volume set. The books may be ordered separately for $14.95 each or as a 3-Pack collection and can be found on the Pure Heart Press page of the MSR Online Bookstore.

 

Back to MSR Online Bookstore

 

Preface / Samples / About the Author

 


Preface

 

The famous psychiatrist Carl Jung spoke about the first half of life, during which you concentrate on establishing your existence in the outside world. He theorizes, once this is accomplished it is important to develop your inner life; the beginning of a spiritual quest and one’s search for meaning. At age forty-five I entered my second half of life and discovered poetry, and my capacity to feel humanity without trepidation. The language of poetry has allowed me to embrace the journey within myself, and traverse boundaries of the undiscovered self.

I began opening my heart to inspiration that risked leaving old ways of being. Shaking up one’s foundation can feel like you are living on the edge, risking everything familiar. Jung states that as you commit yourself to the process of individuation, meaningful coincidences occur that are beyond cause and effect. As a result came many connections and memories that created a tapestry of words, expressing metaphors for life. This is the story of the “memory man.”

 

memory man

 

in his four walls
lie the secrets
of his friends
tiny pieces
of memories
shards of sea glass
shrines of times
passed
life’s joyful
and tragic moments
pieces of places
cherished artifacts
angels watching
paintings dropping
futures connect
past arrives
cat watching
still quiet
comforting the broken
he shares them all
be careful now
don’t touch that
he sees the spirit
living breathing
he protects them all
seeking forgiveness
a room of confessions
contained within his pieces
the human being comes
forth and runs away
the soldiers come
marching
the unicorn rests
history emerges
the beatles sing
james brown screams
sponge bob laughs
a part of you he keeps
smell of woods
leather couches
magazines
peaceful
the memory man

Mlf 1/15/04

 

~Mary Feakins to Donald Cohen

 


Samples

Tommy’s Place

 

Tommy can you see down here to know?
That you are the place that hosts the human race
Playground of memories
Surrounded by trophies of moms and dads memorabilia
Hugging hidden hideaways
Welcome mat for untold stories
Waiting to be retold
Tarots read, decked in the house of cards
Treasures hunt, revealed in an old warehouse
Collecting spirits in the amazing maze of your marketplace
Storing up sharing generations
Kaleidoscope of fleeting thoughts
Teddy bear holding his heart shaped glove
Inscribed “you are my big catch”
Kiddy City’s kid, Coney Island’s cousin
Tommy’s Place
There’s no place like home base

Can you see, can you see, can you see?
See you at Tommy’s Place
We’re gonna have some memories

Dancin’ in Paradise Island
Connecting with people’s collection
Familiar faces around me
Custodians of collecting passion
Keeping it going
Everybody’s here, lost in the crowd
White collar, blue collar
Same priceless dollar
For the joy of finding your favorite toy
Mixture of picture
Fixtures of history
Furniture greeting
Entrance to world’s secret garden

Tommy’s Place
The space that hosts the human race
Tommy’s Place
Your loving grace surrounds me
In spirit of the man
Sightseer freer to see clearer
Inspired leader of the band
In his original style
Celebrating life
Your faith calling me
Looking to find what speaks inside
Lifting the cloudy sky
Crowds filling up from the deep black hole
Shadows landing
Nostalgia’s nightline
Leading me through the dark
Stacks of art, buried under and above
To be cherished
Never to perish
Jewels in back rooms
Cluttered in artifacts
Lived in, other worldly

Lost objects
Sheltered pets waiting to be adopted
Saving what’s sacred
Smelling the stories
Touching timeless thoughts
Hearing history
Seeing signs
Sensing déjà-vu
Dust never settling
Tasting textures of time
Preserve for a reason no matter what season

Can you see, can you see, can you see?
See you at Tommy’s Place
We’re gonna have some memories
Tommy’s Place
That space for grace
Host for the human race
Being heavenly
Angels from heaven
Winking, pointing up
Inviting nighttime ghosts-come out to play
Dioramas intact
Sculptural installations preserved
Like the dead of Pompeii
Truth in aesthetics
Collecting the mystery of history
Art of antiquity
Collages of where we have been

Tapestry’s memory of the past
Dreaming the future
Ruins restored
Resurrecting themselves
Strays of treasure sculptured
Rising up, rising up, rising up
Souls standing tall
Lost and found

Tommy, can you see your old records still spinning songs?
Your Blues Brothers singing and dancin’
To those good ‘ol blues
Discovered in the place that hosts the human race

See you at Tommy’s Place
We’re gonna have some memories
See you at Tommy’s Place
Can you see, can you see, can you see?

…Can you?

(August 20, 2002)


Coney Island

 

Calling Coney Island
Once upon a night
Steeplechase, Cyclone
No cell phone
Alone
Lords of Flatbush
Baseball icons
Standing tall
Colorful
Playing for the thrill of fall
Roy Rogers, Ginger Rogers
Those good old Brooklyn Dodgers
Boys of summer
Back in town
Ferris wheel swirling round and round
Starving for my subway hero
Secretly undercover, playing Robert DeNiro
Oh so hungry
At the movie feeling groovy
Rocking in my chair
Being there with Fred Astaire
A go for the triple feature show
In my Moulin Rouge
Subway Hero drenching me over
Bathing thoughts of crimson and clover
Lost island
Mermaid parade
A romp from the swamp
Discovered, recovered
Flying my kite,
Feeling alright
Insight in flight
Playing Luna Park
Night feeling free to be with me
Souls out to see
Walking in on a medley of love
In my Moulin Rouge
Loving my little boy tucking his baseball inside
Softly breaking in his first glove
Sleeping beside
Heart not burning
With love returning
Kid is back
Child in me
Hugging she
Letting it be
Forgetting the fee
Clock strikes twelve
The show must go on, and on, and on
Nighttime peeking beyond
Leaving behind
Picture show rewinds
Taking home my Subway Hero
No longer undercover… Robert DeNiro
Coming home
To my own
Calling
Coney Island
Once upon a night
Basking in my homemade arcade

 

(June 27, 2001)

 


Foggy Night

 

Looking for the light
Driving home in fright
No clearing in sight
Holding my mental picture tight
On that foggy night

Passing the home
In the zone
Roaming thoughts
Caught in my moment
Me as my opponent
Missing home
All alone
Wandering in, I play you
You are me
No longer blue
Falling in love
Life by the stars above
A glow through my window
Moon walking and talking
Slow dancing to music on the radio
Meeting my secret
Misty, mystical
Notes
The foghorn plays
Shrouded in soft silent light
Romantic roaming clouds
In that foggy night
Catching my heart unglued
Looking through her eyes of blue
Becoming my night light
Softly brightening
Feeling less frightening
Passion in silence enlightening

Into my destiny
With organic chemistry
Knew I grew in mood
Unraveled in mental nude
Exposed, somewhat composed

Finding my way
If only to say
Can no longer stay
Living my life in tones of grey
Clear sky ahead
Future without dread
No more asking why
Need to say goodbye
No more dating
Anticipating
Being in my bed soul mating
Not bogged down
Home free to see above the fog

Getting high
Bluebird flying in the sky
Riding my horse
Clouds lifting
Me shifting
Following my course
In the rising sun
Having fun, no longer on the run
Resting, investing
Bowing to my here and now
Pining in my mind
Sensual dancing to “Layla”
Loping and hoping
Like a man on his carousel
Under a spell
No longer the same
Calling her name
You as I
And I as you
Seeing the “she”
In mercurial me
Embracing the miracle of going full circle
Fallen off for too long
Without my song
The tattle is I am over the battle
Back on the saddle
Round and round I go
To know
My own reap and sow
Solid ground in sight
Found the light on that foggy night

 

(March 7, 2004)

 

 



About the Author

 

Donald Cohen was born in New York in 1951 where he spent his childhood. He graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Cohen went on to earn his M.S.W. at Columbia University and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, located in Berkley, California. He returned to the East Coast to complete his fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University Medical Center, as well as to begin his private practice. The author has also created, produced, and hosted the weekly television and radio show, Kids are Talking. He is a licensed marital and family therapist, and has had various articles published over the years while conducting lectures and workshops on subjects related to children, particularly communication. He is the co-author of My Father, My Son and a children’s book Milo, My Stray Cat. In addition Cohen is the producer and lyricist for the rock band “the GIVE.” He is the co-creator of the self-titled acoustic CD, as well as “the GIVE—Live at the Acoustic Café.” Both are available on iTunes. The poet and his wife Dee have two children and reside in Connecticut.