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.
Kenneth Rexroth: Portrait of the Author as a Young Anarchist
1917-18-19, While things were going on in Europe, Our most used term of scorn or abuse Was “bushwa.” We employed it correctly, But we thought it was French for “bullshit.” … Continue reading
Video: Jack Kerouac — “McDougall Street Blues”
Jack Kerouac speaks while Steve Allen plays jazz piano. With video clips of New York City in the 1950’s and 60’s. A beautiful piece of collaborative work capturing the mood … 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
Jose Padua: The Birth of the Spoken Word Demon
I’d been back in Washington for a month when, standing by the magazine racks at Tower Records, I spotted someone I knew on the cover of High Times. It was … Continue reading
Let’s Hear It for Ball-Busting Poetry About a World Men Have Ruined!
Let’s have dangerous, trouble-making, side-sinister, cantankerous, mean poetry. Let`s have pure-damn evil poetry. Looking out my kitchen window, having watched a red-tailed hawk stoop and carry off a baby rabbit, … Continue reading
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