Film by Nino Fabriano -- Poetry by Tim Barrus

i knew there was something old about you when we met in the catacombs of paris/ not that you neatly fit anywhere/ certainly not into time/ they say some people have an ancient soul/ you were an actor and a witch/ juggling us/ like a pair of burning torches/ pantomime/ dance/ music/ chants/ the striking of sticks together/ to release the surplus animal spirits/ birth/ hunting/ war/ death/ stick twirler/ we know that elaborate processions were common in mesopotamia/ the egyptians have images of you on the walls of tombs/ itinerant minstrels traveled through Sparta/ rome imported you/ to entertain/ troops/ the prince/ an emperor or two/ circus curcus/ eating fire/ and swallowing/ but we both know you can do much more than that/ those are only tricks/ seeing that most of you had risen up with all your magic from the dead family ashes of bones and slaves/