Mike Schneider: Elvis Night at Johnny’s
You wanted anything by Elvis, large
as kinetic energy, like the wiggle-waggle
of ocean breeze through palm fronds.
Hosanna. Jesus cruising down
the Avenue on his ass
Baron Wormser: The Refusal
We take, rightly so, poets and writers as people who, in some way, shape, or form, are involved in praising the sheer energy of Being and, in that regard, are saying yes to the life force.
Allen Ginsberg: A Supermarket in California
What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.
Baron Wormser: The System
Humankind never has been very aware of the consequences of their group actions, perhaps because large groups, in particular, are inherently thoughtless.
Audio: Jack Kerouac reads his poem “Old Angel Midnight”
“Old Angel Midnight” is only the beginning of a lifelong work in multilingual sound, representing the haddalada-babra of babbling world tongues coming in thru my window at midnight no matter where I live or what I’m doing
Audio: Gregory Corso reads his poem “Marriage”
Beat generation poet Gregory Corso reads his classic poem “Marriage” from his book, The Happy Birthday of Death, first published in 1960.
Abby Zimet: Rest In Poetry
We bid fond farewell to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, indefatigable poet, publisher, painter, pacifist, iconoclast, political activist, “heart of the Beat generation” and “legend of American letters, bookselling, rabble rousing, wild dreaming.”
Allen Ginsberg: Sunflower Sutra
Jack Kerouac sat beside me on a busted rusty iron pole, companion, we thought the same thoughts of the soul, bleak and blue and sad-eyed, surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery.
Joan E. Bauer: Brilliant Modernist, Armored Life
Afraid of heights, she stood on ledges.
To onlookers, she’d say:
Buddy, I’m not a nice girl. I’m a photographer.
I go anywhere.
Video: “Dear America” by Jose Bello
Two days after he read this poem at a TRUTH Act forum in Bakersfield, California, ICE arrested Jose Bello.
Paul Christensen: Images
One powerful image can overthrow the whole decaying edifice of empiricism and thrust us back into the medieval mind of gods, miracles, witches, and the wonders of an empowered and … Continue reading
Audio: Allen Ginsberg’s first recorded reading of “Howl” (1956)
Allen Ginsberg said in a 1985 interview that “Howl” began with another poem. Ginsberg, who had studied at Columbia University, sent a poem called “Dream Record, 1955” to poet and … Continue reading
Video: “The Ballad of the Skeletons” by Allen Ginsberg with Paul McCartney and Philip Glass
In October of 1995, Ginsberg visited Paul McCartney and his family at their home in England. He recited The Ballad of the Skeletons while one of McCartney’s daughters filmed it. … Continue reading
Video: “Father Death Blues” sung by Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and one of the leading figures of both the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the … Continue reading
