WE WALKED For Allen Cohen - 1940-2004

© Copyright by Martin Linhart - 2004

We Walked
We walked down Haight Street,
From 1371, Where The Oracle Lived
To Hippy Hill in Golden Gate Park

I felt silly the Oracle was thirty-five years ago!
I wondered, how
Would Allen have viewed this Procession?
Would, Allen have gone
On this Procession?
I asked myself Not Really
Knowing the Answer

Afterwards, I was Glad
I was Glad I walked
With you!

I thought of the Long Journey,
Brooklyn to NOW!
Allen Old Friend, Allen My Brother
Yes we walked
Each of us
Together
On Our Own, Journey.

We walked out of Brooklyn
You in 62, me in 65
Into the Golden Gate and
The Promise
It held for each of us
The Same
Yet, Different

I appeared at your door in 1965
Moving in with you and Laurie,
Becoming, Each others World.
Again in 1967 I appeared at your door
Again I moved in with you and Laurie!
This Time Your World encompassed
Neil Rose and
His, Very Young Girlfriend, Honey.

You walked into The Rebirth of Oracle
Co-Editing with, Stephen Levine.
Later I walked into Your World
The San Francisco Oracle and
Walked in a fantasy world of color and
Magic that was The Haight/Ashbury reflected by
An Oracle filled with tales of Magic
On pages of color with the Promise of
Even More / Spiritual /Magical/Colorful
Un-Folding..

You Walked into the Love Book where
Lenore Kandel's Poem and You
Stood On Trial, For Obscenity.

Prosecuted By Frank Shaw
Fuming/Zealous Outrage
As if
The Raw Expression of
Sexual Love
Was Murder.

We walked from the changes of 1967 into 1968 when finally
The Movement Self-Imploded into Chaos/
Hard Drugs/Rip-Offs/
Murder and Over-Doses.

Ron Thelin Presided Over the Death/
Of the Hippy/
The Birth of,/The Free Man
It was 1968
The Birthing of The Woman's Movement,
Where We Became/Free People!

Walking From; The Hippy Movement/The Promise
Exploded Into Madness
A Tear-Streaked, Clown-Faced Joker with
Soot/Speed/Bad-Teeth
And Love-Less-Ness. The Magic Gone

The Promise Evaporating, Becoming
Longing For Re-Birth, For Rejuvenation,
For Reinvention. A New Beginning!

We Walked From San Francisco, Into an Un-chartered Wilderness of Self
Discovery /
New Family/A Sense of Community
We Walked,
All the Way Back
The Land
Each of us on Our Own
Journey Together
Into An expanded sense of Family

You in Mendocino at
Table Mountain Ranch
And Me in Siskiyou County at
Black Bear Ranch

Where We Experienced,
Joys, Pains,
Bonding
The Ecstasy of Birth,
Our extended family
A larger Sense of Ourselves
The World /Through Births,
The-Communal, Experience!
Rearing-of-Children!

Real Life Filled with
Tears and Laughter/
Blood and Sweat/
Urine and Feces

The Lost Loves The Found Loves,
The Many Loves
We encountered.

We Walked out of our youth into
Our Twilight
So to speak
We walked into
New Families/ New Bonding'
While keeping
The Old.

Walking in Hepatitis C
Our Paths Diverge
I am Asymptomatic and You,
Became A Candidate For
And Received,
A Liver Transplant

Was it all, for Nothing?
The Cancer, had Spread to Your Hip!

I Saw, you,
In your Final Struggles
Coming to Terms
With Yourself
The Realization Of
Your Own Death!

Allen in your Twilight
You brought so many
Of us Together

I will never forget when in those last days
I entered your room
You were happy to see me,
Greeting Me with Three Guttural Growls
While reaching/for my hand

To Ann
You Expressed Surprise
At How Hard
It was
For You,
To Let Go!

In my Own Minds-Eye
It seems it would not be so hard
When I know it is Time to Exit
I, Will Leave!

In Reality I can not Know
Until That Time,
When Confronted,
With My Own Death

April 23rd It is your 64th Birthday We Celebrate You.
My 64th Birthday will Be On December 9th.
April 29th At 10:23 PM you squeezed Ann's Hand Three Times And Took Your Last
Breath.
On April 30th I came to say Goodbye One Last Time

And Saw You on Your Right Side /Your Right Fist Poised
Under your Chin /Eyes Half Open
Your Expression seemed to say
" Oh, So That's It!!!

You Entered Into That Unknown
Joining many of Those Brothers who
Took Their Last Walk:

Richard Marley, Michael Guerra, Alan Hoffman,
Fred Klein, Ron Thelin, Kirby Doyle, Many Others:

Emmet Grogin;
Found
Nodded: To Death,
On The West End Line,
In Coney Island,
Stillwell Avenue. The Last Stop!

Ironically the Same Line,
The West End
Line, on The Brooklyn-Manhatan Transit,
We Rode
In our Bensonhurst Childhood
From Coney Island to Times Square

I See the Photograph.
A Portrait of Fred Klein
Shot By Steve Walzer in 63'

There is a Ball-like Point of Light
In The upper left and
When I Focus on the Light

A face Appears
And the Light is reflected
Off of Eye-glasses

Allen
It is Your Glasses,
Your Face
And it is Your Light!

And Yes Allen
I Will Miss Your Light.

Allen Cohen Tributes and Memories
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