It’s raining in the ruins. Carved Pillars holding up clouds.
A cracked marble stage surrounded by crouched drummers.
Thunder in the sky. Thunder under the sky.
Girls dancing fast enough to stay warm.
Breasts, beads, feathers.
A village down the road, everyone behind locked doors,
around fires out of the rain.
Raining in the haunted ruins. Never stops raining.
And the girls without an audience, many bracelets
on long graceful arms
never stop dancing.
Julia Vinograd was Berkeley’s informal “poet laureate.” Her poems about Telegraph Avenue and life in Berkeley in the late 60’s and beyond were beloved by many. She died in December, 2018.