Polish Rider Jerzy Kosinski

Flawed Masterpieces

By: Charles Giuliano - Mar 11, 2016

Polish Rider Jerzy Kosinski

Renowned works of art
Are not always what
They appear to be
Dumpster diving
Deep in the archive
Where pearls lay
In buried oysters
Under the muck
Of time and
Neglect
Three slides resurfaced
Random shots
Brief encounter
Mid- Manhattan
Jerzy Kosinski
Dressed for success
Chatting with female
Seductive expression
Height of fame
Celebrated but
Controversial books
Like Polish Rider
In the Frick
Alleged Rembrandt
Something not right
About the horse
We concluded
In a graduate seminar
Later downgraded to
School of
So too with his books
Painted Bird or
Being There
With Peter Sellers
Brilliantly
As Chance the Gardner
May have been
Cribbed from
Lesser known authors
It was alleged
Ill and oppressed
A suicide
Not surprising in the
Literary world
Xana Kaysen
Girl Interrupted
Reviewing his book
Decades ago
Told me that she
Spat on every page
Stumbling on
Such venom
While unearthing
Dark grainy images
Photoshopped back
To ersatz life
Fading clips
From scrapbooks
Of discredited
Faustian creators
Paying the price
Posthumous cost
Of fugitive celebrity
Embalmed by
My camera