Dream

by Julia Vinograd

I dreamed of a department store selling wounds,
some raised up by fluttering wings,
some edged with delicate lace,
some under spotlights backed by mirrors.
It was an expensive store. Each wound came with a story.
Immaculate shopmen carried rolled scrolls on silver platters
to read the history of wounds in low precise voices.
The shoppers paused and asked their friends’ advice
as if they were choosing diamond necklaces or ballgowns.
Some of the wounds still bled, some had healed scars
that ached in winter. Veterans also shopped there,
feeling their own wounds were out of fashion
and wanting something better.
Drinking fountains ran with bright red blood.
Broken hearts dangled from chandeliers,
who'll take you seriously at a party without a broken heart?
A large silver-green abalone shell full of glass eyes,
run them thru your fingers, what do you see?
There were no price tags. Each wound came at its own cost.
You went on paying and paying.
The store of wounds was always full.
I dreamed nobody could live without one.

This a poem by Julia Vinograd. A poet - so vivid and observant. She possessed the remarkable ability to knit together urban observations and her own interiors to create volumes of poetry that appear on the pages like paintings. Now her life is the subject of a documentary via director, producer and cinematographer Ken Paul Rosenthal and a group of talented creatives.

Julia Vinograd: Between Spirit and Stone is an in-progress feature documentary about iconic Berkeley street poet Julia Vinograd, who emerged from the 1960’s Free Speech Movement fighting state oppression with bubbles instead of bricks. Eccentric and indomitable, often subsisting on one meal a day, the "Bubble Lady of Telegraph Avenue" pushed through multiple disabilities to produce more than 70 volumes of poetry, winning an American Book Award, a Pushcart Prize, and Berkeley's first Lifetime Achievement Award. A lifelong champion of marginalized people and an enduring symbol of nonviolent resistance through art, Vinograd's untold story is presented through the vivid historical prisms of Berkeley's People's Park movement, the 1980's post-Beat Bay Area literary scene, and her witty, incisive, deeply humane poetry.

Why This Film Matters

Julia Vinograd's poetry and unique brand of bubble-blowing activism profiles a divisive time in our past that reflects our present political climate. As historically silenced communities speak up within an increasingly diverse and inclusive United States, it is essential to tell the stories of artists like Vinograd, who was not limited by her disabilities. She wrote from the rare perspective of an artist surviving on the same economic and cultural margins as the itinerant and disenfranchised subjects of her verse. Julia's story of indefatigable artistry and unabashed nonconformity highlights the creativity that can emerge from difference, and asks viewers to understand that difference is intrinsic to our humanity.

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