=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 20:16:20 +0000

Reply-To:     "neudorf@discovland.net" <neudorf@DISCOVLAND.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "neudorf@discovland.net" <neudorf@DISCOVLAND.NET>

Subject:      Spirit present

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In response to:

 

> I am 43.  I often regret that I am so young and missed out on the

> 50's and the beats.  Anybody else in that predicament of feel that

> way.

> Oh well, as someone once said, somethings gained in living every

> day.

> --

> Peace,

> Bentz

 

 

I am a Montreal 20 year old poet. There are no regrets to having begun

my journey a good 45 years after some of our 'courage-teachers'. The

spirit is the main thing and is present.

 

Joseph Neudorfer

neudorf@discovland.net

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:19:52 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Last of the Mocassins

 

James:

WELL, thank you, man, if I do say so meself, as Neal usta say. I just got

home from the Interstate again. It compresses in my head for weeks...not like

old Route 66..Hell trip out west and back. Folks can't seem to live the greed

fast enough. Passing all the filled cattle trucks in Dakota seeing the big

eye of the beast stare at me through the railings on its way to slaughter and

all the animals in rode kill around the Great Lakes..too many white cars in

Ohio. Made me have a nightmare of red Irish setter impalled on Street sign. I

ran for help. Then its puppy impalled. I never know what to do. I try to save

an animal on the road and the driver looks at me while hitting it. Signs in

S.D. saying they depend on animals for live and don't want any animal rights

people around. They depend on them for capital greed mainly.

Passed Little Big Horn and the monument for Custer. Wanted $6 to go up on the

hill. I yelled Custer was a loser and National Monuments belong to the

people. Keep your $6.

Charles Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:24:16 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Lom&DrSax

 

In a message dated 97-06-18 02:30:17 EDT, you write:

 

<< > Levi:

 > Well, at least I particularly like my image of Kerouac punching toward

 > epiphany. If just that could be worked in somewhere I think it's

important.

 > It seems someone on the beat-l writing a paper has zeroed in that word.

 > Charley

 

 Hey ... just wanted to give you an update.  I'm still working on

 this, along with too many other projects (I'm always very slow

 to finish things, but I *do* eventually finish.)  Just didn't

 want you to think I forgot.  Talk to you soon ... how's

 everything going? >>

 

Levi has put my post on Dr. Sax on his site, if anyone is interested.

Charles Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:24:13 EST

Reply-To:     MORE OXY THAN MORON <breithau@KENYON.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         MORE OXY THAN MORON <breithau@KENYON.EDU>

Subject:      Wasson

 

Does anyone know if mushroom man Gordon Wasson is still alive? Thanks,

 

Dave B.

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 20:28:00 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: Spirit present

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neudorf@discovland.net wrote:

>

> In response to:

>

> > I am 43.  I often regret that I am so young and missed out on the

> > 50's and the beats.  Anybody else in that predicament of feel that

> > way.

> > Oh well, as someone once said, somethings gained in living every

> > day.

> > --

> > Peace,

> > Bentz

>

> I am a Montreal 20 year old poet. There are no regrets to having begun

> my journey a good 45 years after some of our 'courage-teachers'. The

> spirit is the main thing and is present.

>

> Joseph Neudorfer

> neudorf@discovland.net

 

not certain i understand the purpose of all this BUT

 

according to my birth certificate I'm 35 years 9 months and 2 days on

this Earth.

but time is a relative thing don't ya know :)

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:44:24 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: traditionalism

 

I agree with the post about memorizing. Maybe it's a spurious arguement. I

used to memorize Burma Shave signs and limericks are meant for any dirty

minded half-wit to repeat. The post about Ginsberg sayin ass? Well Chaucer

was the first Englishman to write those vulgar things. About G's unedited

spontaneity. Good advice. Yeats said something about getting it down while

it's hot. How else wd he get those funny Kerouac oddities "perne in a gyre"?

But even G wouldn't let a word stay if he saw it differently re-reading it.

And Whitman was the dirty old man with greatest compassion for anyone, any

religion, even a soldier who was a Republican! Had the longer wind and

breath, too. That's why it took Pound, the clarity nut, a long time to accept

him. And Pound also sd Fucking in the Cantos, long before G.

So don't take anything verbatum ergo dictum too seriously folks!

Charles Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:07:42 +0000

Reply-To:     "neudorf@discovland.net" <neudorf@DISCOVLAND.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "neudorf@discovland.net" <neudorf@DISCOVLAND.NET>

Subject:      ReBirth Generation

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In response to Maya's:

 

> I just turned 22, have been out of college for 1 year now.  But i

> guess my generation, my friends i mean, are just as beat as beat can

> be.  I hope to take what we can learn from the beats and push it one

> step further (isn't that the duty of the next generation?) I would

> be innerested to know about everyone else too.  I have tried to

> guess, but am often wrong.  See ya----------------maya

 

 

I'm with you Maya, up in Montreal, Kanada (Whitman spelling).

20 years old

McGill University (History / English)

self-published 2 chapbooks        Jan 1996    The Beginning of Something

                                                          Sept 1996   Mountain Tasting

                                                  (hopefully in Sept of 1997   And Poet I Hero Be)

-twin brother (David), both of us megalomaniacal poets spreading the

word

 have been performing for 2 years in cafes, clubs with the Rhythmic

Missionaries, a jazzoetry ensemble (trumpet, saxophone, bass, violin,

drums, kungas)

 

-my brother has a piece titled "ReBirth Generation", that's what we are.

Audiences drool at us, compare us to beats   that's o.k.   don't let it

get to the head   must not define ourselves (others will always lend a

hand   was not Kerouac hesitant and alienated by critics and

descriptions of the Beat Generation?)

 this is not new, but then again, it is   just be, (even the

corporations have it down, Just Do It   Nike)

 to be compared to the past is an honour, but as you mentioned, we must

add our own twist to the tradition   i don't even know if it's adding .

. . one thing is for sure, the whole internet thing is new, imagine

anthologies covering literary generations of the 21st century, no more

correspondence through the post office but through !email!

-to come back to our jazzoetry ensemble, only my brother and I don't

play instruments, and the musicians all perform their poetry as well

it is not a band, as the words remain supreme, rather it is a

conversation, the music responding to the words, heightening the

emotions. Hopefully you will have heard Kenneth Rexroth with jazz

accompaniment, or Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The point here is that what

I've heard is not that extraordinary. The poets and musicans separately

are much more accomplished than any of us, but together they are not

convincing. Credit must be given to the beats for combining the two art

forms (poetry and jazz). In this respect, I see us as adding, but it is

only another level, as dust accumulates.

- RHYTHMIC MISSIONARIES : look in any thesaurus for rhythm, you will

find beat. 'Missionary' brings out the image of Jesuits in South America

destroying native traditions, that is the opposite of what we are about.

Combine the two words and it is the spreading of the vibe, the spreading

of good times, the rhythm native to all peoples, solidarity in

diversity.

  i guess preachiness cannot be avoided   Ginsberg was a prophet in the

line of the Hebrew prophets (there is an element of tongue and cheek

that Ginsberg admits, but there is also an element of truth)   and so,

up here in Montreal, the prophet line continues

 

Joseph Neudorfer

neudorf@discovland.net

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:50:01 -0400

Reply-To:     andrew szymczyk <trent@JANE.PENN.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         andrew szymczyk <trent@JANE.PENN.COM>

Subject:      Re: existential overdose.....leading to withdrawal (just felt

              likeposting it again)

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----------

: From: Maya Gorton <Marioka7@AOL.COM>

: To: BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

: Subject: existential overdose.....leading to withdrawal (just felt

likeposting it again)

: Date: Wednesday, June 18, 1997 8:35 PM

:

: I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE SOMETHING THAT BEGINS WITH BE

:

: IS IT GOOD? IS IT BAD? DOES IT MAKE YOU SAD OR GLAD?

:

:   I don't know, I don't care

:                    it doesn't touch me (anywhere)

:

: ::climbs into stone sarcophagus, lies down facing upwards. slowly shifts

: heavy slab into place.

: ::when the lid is securely in place, it is airtight, and totally dark.

:

: DO YOU FEEL IT IN YOUR BRAIN?  DO YOU FEEL IT IN YOUR VEIN?

:

:     i do not feel it here nor there! nor ANYWHERE!

:                   NOT IN MY BRAIN

:                   NOT IN THE RAIN

:                   ALL IS IN VAIN

:                   I MUST BE INSANE.............

:

: ::suddenly, suffocation::

:                   "For what dreams may come---"

:

:      As a matter of fact, it was one of those "something horrible is

chasing

: me and its going to kill me" dreams.  They say these dreams are the

peculiar

: affliction of people who feel guilty about something, like when you're

: avoiding a responsibility.

: Anyway, I was running like a murderer...but from what?

:      runnrunrunning running running running simultaneously from and after

: something but I couldn't tell what it was

:   all I knew was I HAD to catch up with it

:                        or else...

:      But it kept out of sight. It was just around the corner, a corner I

had

: not dared to round before.  The corner kept getting further and further

away,

: no matter how fast I ran-- it was just beyond my reach.  Running,

running...

:

: NOTHING'S HAPPENING

:

: If I could just see what it was...I HAD to know.

:

: (running)

:

: I ran past the Point of No Return.  I only had one drop of energy left.

:      I was running on empty.  "This is it", I thought.  One drop left.

The

: final stretch--after this, turning back is as good as death, I might as

well

: give it one, last, final PPUUSSHH....

:

:         !!THEN SUDDENLY!!

:

: OH, NO! As soon as horrified recognition crept in, i tried to look away,

but

: it was too late.

: I was in it, surrounded by it, blinded, deafened by it.

:

: it was the face of my mother

: her face!

: She's crying and it's my fault..

:

:      In a convulsion of horror and fear and grief, I howled.

: My underwater dream over.

:

:      The air I now had to breathe scorched my lungs.

: I felt like I was inhaling all the dust of the world.

:

:         ~~~*~~~

:

:      For three long days and three long nights I twisted in agony as

forces

: inside wrestled for control.  Absolute terror.  Every nerve in my body

: stretched to the maximum, a Tug-of-War against myself.

:

: A most cruel and violent exorcism.

:

:      Sleep seemed further away than the sun is to the Underworld.  And

the

: COLD...

: A thousand winters rushing through me.

:

:      All the monsters and demons of Hell laughed evilly as they watched

me

: turn into ice.  One cell at a time chrystallizing.  A chain reaction.

:      I saw my imminent doom as just another ice-statue in their trophy

: gallery, fully conscious but forever cursed with the inability to

: move...another victory for Doom.

:      If only I could crawl out of this too-tight skin...

:

:      If I killed myself, it would be another victory for them.

: And my parents' grief...

:      Could it be that I still loved? After all?

:

:      The Destroyer laughed. "Fool!", said he, "Haven't you learned yet to

: cast off that perfidious illusion?"

:

:      "GO AWAY!", I screamed.

: I put my hands over my ears and began to sing.

:

: Destroyer: (laughs evilly)

:          : (disappears in puff of smoke)

:

:      Maya, or illusion, fighting for the most insane idea she could dream

of,

: which was to love.

:

:         ~~~*~~~

:

: On the 4th day I finally reached Sleep.

: On the 5th day, I awoke: 1.Consciousness

:                          2.Opened my eyes

:                          3.Stood up on my new legs*

:

:      *this took a long time. My new legs were weak, since I was used to

: swimming and not walking.  I faltered and was unsteady at first, but soon

got

: used to it.

:

: On the 6th day, the sun warmed me, and I decided it must be Spring.

:

: On the 7th day, I looked at the world with my new sensory powers, smelled

it

: heard it felt it, and I saw that it could be alright, sometimes.

:

: I took a deep breath, inhaling all the colors, and began to write, paint,

: sing, dance, wildly so that I would never again forget what it means to

be

: alive.

:

:         ~~~*~~~

:

 

If you choose to enter the cave with professor Twangiri,

                                        turn to page 229.

 

           If you choose to return to the boat with Panga,

                                        turn to page 250.

 

    If you choose to go to Arkansas, turn to the next page.

 

 

 

 

sorry, i saw my chance to fit this in with the rememberance of

those damned "make your own story" books.  oh c'mon,

i *had* to do it.

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:11:51 -0500

Reply-To:     =?iso-8859-1?Q?Sinverg=FCenza?= <ljilk@GUINAN.MPS.ORG>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         =?iso-8859-1?Q?Sinverg=FCenza?= <ljilk@GUINAN.MPS.ORG>

Subject:      Re: traditionalism

In-Reply-To:  <33A722BC.51B@owens.ridgecrest.ca.us>

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Barbara Wirtz wrote:

 

>>

>> Diane Carter wrote:

>> . . .  Is it simply that you

>> > are a more of a traditionalist in your world and literary views?

>> > Ginsberg freed poetic language from the boundaries imposed by earlier

>> > poets, including Eliot. He took poetry to another level.  Is there

>> > something about that level that bothers you?

>> >  DC

>Yes, I am obviously more of a traditionalist...and to a degree sound is

>as important as the images and messages in poetry...otherwise it might

>as well be prose...a speech.  And Ginsberg does favor techniques used by

>orators moreso than poets.  Also...I don't think poetry had been "bound"

>or "enslaved" my sound devices....It is a kind of music where one may

>choose from a plethora of devices.  And honestly, Ginsberg is lacking in

>that area.  I agree, his imagery  and tone are powerful, but he relies

>heavily on parallelism and cataloging, but he never achieves the cadence

>of Whitman.  Albeit....if cacophony and anger are to be conveyed, he's

>achieved it....But I still don't think he's the finest poet of this

>century.

>Respectfully,

>Barb

 

Ginsberg did take poetry to another level; it's been said that Howl was the

first real step forward for American poetry since Leaves of Grass.  I

believe he achieved something unique and new with his poetry. Whether or

not sound devices "enslaved" poetry is not so important as the fact that

Ginsberg was able to create great poetry without capitulating to them. He

has helped poets find their own voice (as William C. Williams helped AG

find his) by raising his own voice so loudly in his poems. To me, yes sound

is important in poetry, but ginsberg achieves beauty that Eliot  and other

poets who followed more traditional forms never attained. When from the

dirty ashes of the grief, pain, honesty, and madness of Kaddish come the

lines:

 

Myself, anyhow, maybe as old as the universe--and I guess that dies with

        us--enough to cancel all that comes--What came is gone forever

        every time--

Thats good! That leaves it open for no regret--no fear radiators, lacklove,

        torture even toothache in the end--

Though while it comes it is a lion that eats the soul--and the lamb, the sou=

l,

        in us, alas, offering itself in sacrifice to change's fierce

hunger--hair

        and teeth--and the roar of bonepain, skull bare, break rib, rot-skin

        braintricked Implacability.

Ai! ai! we do worse! We are in a fix! And you're out, Death let you out,

        Death had the mercy, you're done with your century, done with

        God, done with the path thru it-- Done with yourself at last--Pure

        --Back to the Babe dark before your Father, before us all--before the

        world--

 

There, rest. No more suffering for you. I know where you've gone, it's good.

 

 

 

I will sometimes become tearful when i read this aloud. The sound of this

poetry is Ginsberg reading it, yourself reading it, not the intricacies of

rhyme or the placement of syllables, but the pure experience of the beauty

of what the author has done. One can feel the man writing this: at once,

being absorbed by the madness of his mother and somehow coming through the

other side alright, absorbing it in himself; and this relates to ginsberg's

capacity for compassion, and the essence of the Beats, that giving of

oneself to life and allowing the beauty and art to come from within the

experience of life. So was the art of the beats, in my opinion.

        I could never see myself trading Howl or Kaddish for Ode On a

Grecian Urn by Keats, but luckily, the world gets to have all three and

take from them all and perhaps find themselves and their own voice in each.

But in the end, whether in  pursuance of truth or of beauty the poet finds

one within the other. Dickinson wrote about herself and another buried in

the grave. She says "I died for beauty" and he says "I died for truth".

They are one, and the companions talk to eachother through the walls until

moss grows over their lips.

        To me, Ginsberg's formal style, whether poetic or oratory, is as

powerful and beautiful as the lyric of any other poet. He elevates man in

the world; his sound device is that of life!

 

-leo jilk

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:07:30 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz Kirby

Subject:      Re: Spirit present

Comments: To: RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

MIME-Version: 1.0

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RACE --- wrote:

 

> neudorf@discovland.net wrote:

> >

> > In response to:

> >

> > > I am 43.  I often regret that I am so young and missed out on the

> > > 50's and the beats.  Anybody else in that predicament of feel that

>

> > > way.

> > > Oh well, as someone once said, somethings gained in living every

> > > day.

> > > --

> > > Peace,

> > > Bentz

> >

> > I am a Montreal 20 year old poet. There are no regrets to having

> begun

> > my journey a good 45 years after some of our 'courage-teachers'. The

>

> > spirit is the main thing and is present.

> >

> > Joseph Neudorfer

> > neudorf@discovland.net

>

> not certain i understand the purpose of all this BUT

>

> according to my birth certificate I'm 35 years 9 months and 2 days on

> this Earth.

> but time is a relative thing don't ya know :)

>

> david rhaesa

> salina, Kansas

 

 

Sure there is a point to it, but if I told you, it would lose its

point.  Sometimes, I wish I was older than 43, but I hardly ever wish I

was younger.  So, why does our culture want to be so young.  I don't get

it, that's for sure.

 

Peace,

--

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

 

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:22:53 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: heroin and aging

 

Well I could use some in my old age to help me down from the soapbox.

C. Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:27:25 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: my cat ate my homework

 

Likely story. Is that the cat that peered at me while I slept with one eye

open. Reminds me of Old Joe Turner singing :like a one-eyed cat sleeping in a

seafood store."

C. Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:30:26 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: limited vision

 

In a message dated 97-06-18 17:03:30 EDT, you write:

 

<<  What I take issue with is the fact that

 some of the people who make up society and eventually history have a

 limited vision of what is possible. >>

Diane:

Sounds like a description of Allen. Everything always had to be his way in

the boy's club.

Pam Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:27:45 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: my cat ate my homework

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Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

>

> Likely story. Is that the cat that peered at me while I slept with one eye

> open. Reminds me of Old Joe Turner singing :like a one-eyed cat sleeping in a

> seafood store."

> C. Plymell

 

the cat came near me once and i let out a snore that shook the room and

knocked the cat across the room and it ran from me like i was a tornado

-- of course, i was asleep so this could be all made up.

 

the attractive feature of the Beat Hotel that gets little mention is the

private "forest of arden" outside the bedroom window.

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:32:25 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: that old conciousness again

 

In a message dated 97-06-18 17:03:30 EDT, you write:

 

<<  What I take issue with is the fact that

 some of the people who make up society and eventually history have a

 limited vision of what is possible. >>

Diane:

Sounds like a description of Allen.

Pam Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:32:27 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Best concept

 

In a message dated 97-06-18 17:34:59 EDT, you write:

 

<< Do try Gary Snyder's Turtle Island

 (as well as his others) since you're interested in poetry.

  >>

We stopped and saved a turtle from getting mashed on the road. I hope Gary

Snyder does the same.

C. Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:39:33 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Cool cars

 

In a message dated 97-06-18 18:19:08 EDT, you write:

 

<< Mine looks that way anyway!!!! But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

a

 cool car? >>

I had a cool '53 Buick Riviera in 1953, if you want to read about in it LOM.

I spit Oxybiotic on the door and it ate the paint off. I also had a '52 MGTD

that Billy Batman gave us on the streets of SF in 1967. The last cool car I

had was a '66 Mustang convertible which had a photo of Janis Joplin in it and

cassette with the original Mustang Sally by Wicked Wilson Pickett. I think

that's cool though you might I think I'm a geek or a freak.

Charles Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:40:56 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: Cool cars

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

>

> In a message dated 97-06-18 18:19:08 EDT, you write:

>

> << Mine looks that way anyway!!!! But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

> a

>  cool car? >>

> I had a cool '53 Buick Riviera in 1953, if you want to read about in it LOM.

> I spit Oxybiotic on the door and it ate the paint off. I also had a '52 MGTD

> that Billy Batman gave us on the streets of SF in 1967. The last cool car I

> had was a '66 Mustang convertible which had a photo of Janis Joplin in it and

> cassette with the original Mustang Sally by Wicked Wilson Pickett. I think

> that's cool though you might I think I'm a geek or a freak.

> Charles Plymell

 

didn't you have a cool-car here in Salina back in '49????

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:54:37 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      t.v.

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pretty good law & order tonight.  now that basketball season is over i

can catch them.  was it a re-run?

 

david

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:55:57 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: t.v.

MIME-Version: 1.0

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RACE --- wrote:

>

> pretty good law & order tonight.  now that basketball season is over i

> can catch them.  was it a re-run?

>

> david

 

sorry about that one - hit the wrong button in the address book --

imagine that!

 

dbr

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 23:32:55 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz Kirby

Subject:      Re: Best concept

Comments: To: CVEditions@AOL.COM

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

 

> In a message dated 97-06-18 17:34:59 EDT, you write:

>

> << Do try Gary Snyder's Turtle Island

>  (as well as his others) since you're interested in poetry.

>   >>

> We stopped and saved a turtle from getting mashed on the road. I hope

> Gary

> Snyder does the same.

> C. Plymell

 

Charles:

 

My wife tells me that the other day, she stopped the car save a turtle

from traffic.  My 12 year old son got out to help, but he was getting

"scratched" by the claws and kept putting the turtle down.  My 6 year

old daughter got out and picked it up and placed it on the safe water

side of the road.  She says she is going to be a vet, and I believe

her.  Dogs and cats both like her.  But, she also wants to be a gymnast

and a ballerina.  I think she will have a busy life.  And she has a

certain bohemian look and style about her.  My 8 year old daughter is as

preppy as her mother.  It is so strange the way they seem to have been

here before.

 

Last year when he was 11, Richard was a host for one hour on a local

radio station. I thought he would freeze up.  He turned it on.  People

were still calling for him when we drove away.  But what was curious to

me was this:

 

He read a bit about strange SC laws.  One is a law that makes it illegal

to carry a gun to church.  He ad libbed, "What is someone going to do,

shoot the priest?"  We are not Catholic, and as far as I can remember

have never even taken him to an Episcopal service.  We do not call our

pastor a priest in the United Methodist Church.  So, why did he say

priest instead of preacher.  I think that in another life he was a

Catholic.  I don't know if it matters.  But, has anyone else noticed how

children from the same parents seem to have different parents and even

different "lives".  If you have watched, it will  convince you that we

are reincarnated.

 

When he was 3, Richard told me that we live in a desert and that Jesus

brings us water.  My wife just said he was weird.  I think maybe he was

an Essene priest.

 

Oh well.

 

Later,

 

--

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

 

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 23:37:32 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz Kirby

Subject:      Re: t.v.

Comments: To: RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

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RACE --- wrote:

 

> RACE --- wrote:

> >

> > pretty good law & order tonight.  now that basketball season is over

> i

> > can catch them.  was it a re-run?

> >

> > david

>

> sorry about that one - hit the wrong button in the address book --

> imagine that!

>

> dbr

 

  David:

 

Well, it doesn't matter, it actually fits in better here than on the

Celtic list.  What does it have to do with the draft.  Anyway, did you

register for the draft when you turned 18.  I think I did, but I never

got an invitation to even the Portsmith Camp.  The Celtics never gave me

a try out either.  Maybe I registered for the wrong draft?  This world

is so confusing.  Don't ever take it literally, but if you don't you'll

go insane.

 

Peace, maybe, maybe not,

 

 

--

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

 

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 00:09:55 -0400

Reply-To:     Tony Trigilio <atrigili@LYNX.DAC.NEU.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Tony Trigilio <atrigili@LYNX.DAC.NEU.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Eliot vs. Ginsberg (was Re: lurker speaks)

In-Reply-To:  <33A83250.1CD8@together.net>

Mime-Version: 1.0

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At 12:09 PM 6/18/97 -0700, Diane Carter wrote:

>

> I am not trying to diminish the work of Eliot or importance.  I

> also don't think that when you speak of Eliot and Ginsberg it is as

> simple as saying that they both energized poetry in different ways. I

> don't see the historical progression of poetry as a line where each

> generation improves, so to speak, on the next but more of a circle, here

> all poets, consciously or unconsciously contribute their uniqueness to

> the concerns of poetry as a whole, which is ultimately the concern of

> humanness.

 

I don't buy the improvement/evolution/progression model either.  Your

circle metaphor works fine for me--especially its focus on unconscious as

well as conscious influence.

 

As for the "concerns of poetry as a whole" pointing to a concern for

"humanness," well, I would say that this *might* be an apt description of

my favorite poets . . . maybe yours, too, since we've met up here on

BEAT-L.  Then again, I'm not so sure that Western humanism is what Ginsberg

is most moved by.  I would say he's most interested in re-defining what it

means to be human.  But that's for another discussion (a good one, I'm sure).

 

> As you wrote, in another post "Eliot decries what he calls

> Blake's formlessness." I see Blake as ultimately a great model from

>which

> grew Ginsberg's vision of Molach.

 

You'd love Ginsberg's *Your Reason & Blake's System*, a short book

published by Hanumen (I think Water Row has this).  Ginsberg knew his

Blake--and knew how to adapt Blake (Urizen) to his own ends (Moloch).  You

might also be interested in some of the Blake material in *The Visionary

Poetics of Allen Ginsberg* (by Paul Portuges, from Ross-Erikson Press--out

of print now).  I also work with Blake's influence on Ginsberg in a couple

chapters of my dissertation on poetic prophecy.  And the Eliot quote on

Blake:  compare Eliot here to Harold Bloom's stubborn and un-energetic

reading of *Kaddish*, reprinted in Bloom's *The Ringers in the Tower*.  The

Eliot and Bloom essays are fine examples of the kinds of blinders that

prevent cultural guardians from seeing the limitations of their own systems.

 

 

>I don't see Ginsberg as being

> influenced to any great degree by Eliot.  Any scholars of Ginsberg out

> there, speak up if I am wrong here.

 

Wrong?  Not necessarily (in my opinion, as a twentieth-century poetry

scholar who loves Ginsberg and Eliot).  Check out the unsent letter

Ginsberg wrote (with Carl Solomon) to Eliot from the Columbia Psychiatric

Institute (p. 143-44 of *Howl* facsimile edition), a letter written when

U.S. English Departments were dominated by Eliot-inspired standards of

control, irony, wit, and decorum.  (A domination, as I argued in a previous

post, that arose from critics who seemed to forget Eliot's experimental

qualities--critics who listened more to the prescriptions of Eliot's

criticism than to the experimental nature of the early poetry itself).  In

the letter to Eliot, Ginsberg & Solomon declare that they "know exactly

where you stand on the question of the existence of your great mind," and

close with a royal "we" that plays Eliot's institutional authority for the

fool:  "We take our leave by asking us to kiss you goodbye."

 

I agree with you that Eliot was not a *direct* influence on Ginsberg.

These attacks on Eliot are everywhere in Ginsberg, and for good reason:  he

was establishing a literary reputation that looked away from Eliot's

Euro-inflected voice and toward the American line of Williams and Whitman,

and toward the prophetic energy and prophetic historical consciousness of

Blake.  As you said:

 

> But the connection from Whitman to

> Williams to Ginsberg is much clearer.

 

Yet I've also been trying to argue that twentieth-century literary

history--like the history of any period--is too tangled to simply say

something like:

 

> Eliot distances himself from art

> while Ginsberg puts himself in the middle of it.

 

In "Tradition and the Individual Talent" Eliot does talk about "impersonal"

poetry as a model of composition.  But he also talks about transforming the

emotion of the individual poet into an emotion fitting for each individual

poem--a theory of selfhood that is as much about distance as engagment, I

think.  Eliot claimed an impersonality for his poetry that wasn't always

there, as critics who have focused on biographical readings of his poetry

have shown.

 

Eliot was an influence Ginsberg could not evade, given the historical

conditions of the era.  Even if Ginsberg detested Eliot and chose never to

read him--not the case, as the journals show--Ginsberg could not have

helped hearing the influence of Eliot on the contemporaries around him.

Eliot was too dominant not to be an influence.  Think of this 1954 letter

from Kerouac to Ginsberg (quoted in Schumacher's biography (p. 194) and

probably in other sources):  "For your beginning studies of Buddhism, you

must listen to me carefully and implicitly as tho I was Einstein teaching

you relativity or Eliot teaching the Formulas of Objective Correlation on a

blackboard in Princeton."  Now there's quite a smirking conflation of

representative teachers and influences--Buddha, Einstein, and Eliot.  I'm

reminded of Burroughs's remark on JK conflating Buddha and the Pope.  And

I'm reminded of Ginsberg and Solomon's sarcastic royal "we."  Think also of

"Footnote to Howl," line 115:  "Everything is holy! everybody's holy!

everywhere is holy! everyday is in eternity!"  This does not sound like it

could come from Eliot's elitism and religious orthodoxy.  Yet in the

facisimile edition, Ginsberg cites Blake (from "Auguries of Innocence") and

Eliot (a line from "Burnt Norton" that also appears in Ginsberg's poem

"Journal Night Thoughts") as influences for the line.  And then look at

Ginsberg's Eliot dreams in his published journals.  In these dreams he is

as interested in winning Eliot's approval as he is ashamed of this interest.

 

>I can see why people are moved by

> lines of Eliot, and why they are captivated by the metaphysical and

> symbolic implications of his poetry.  Yet I see Eliot as being removed

>by

> a layer of something from his own verse.  He does not write to America

> about America or about individual experience in a way that even in the

> way that even Whitman did. He writes as if there is a shroud between

> himself and his words, and I think that shroud is the formalness he

> thought critical to a work of art.

 

I agree, to an extent . . . although I think Eliot accomplishes quite a bit

with this strategy of impersonality and self-removal . . . just as Ginsberg

accomplishes quite a bit with his emphasis on strategies of naked selfhood.

 Eliot doesn't want to write as an American or to America.  The "shroud" of

"formalness" you mention--a nice description, I think--is part of his

theory of the "objective correlative" . . . part of what JK claims,

sarcastically, in the 1954 letter is a teaching lineage comparable to

Buddha and Einstein.

 

>    For someone writing in

> American today, I see Ginsberg as a much better model than Eliot.

 

Hard to say, for me.  It depends on what that person wants to say, and how

s/he wants to say it.  As a writer, I try to take a bit from everyone I

read.

 

BTW, thanks for starting this great thread, going way back to your readings

in *Allen Verbatim* (and, as you can guess from my spewing page references

& citations, the thread overlaps some of my own research & writing

interests).

 

Tony

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"I think of people's faces and stay away from coffee.  I listen

to my radio and I go to bed early too.  There's nothing like

sleep to make you feel good the next day.  And I also eat good.

When I feel tense and nervous in the morning I go to Ruby's and

have a good breakfast.  The food gives me the energy to think more

positive thoughts."

--Henry Turner

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:17:01 -0700

Reply-To:     stauffer@pacbell.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James Stauffer <stauffer@PACBELL.NET>

Subject:      Re: Windowpoopies

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Bill Philibin wrote:

 

 But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

> a

> > cool car?

 

 

Look at the pictures of Plymell who has definitely owned and sold to

cheap some very cool cars.

 

I don't know if I myself count as a poetic Geek, but my coolest wheels

have been a couple of Saab 96's, a wonderfully clean 1950 Ford pickup

with a great flathead straight  6, one of the original RX-7's, and a

wonderful 5 liter Mustang which kicked serious butt.  Nothing wrong with

cool cars.  Best current wheels (but not running) a 1958 Vespa 150.

 

J Stauffer

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 23:20:08 -0500

Reply-To:     Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Subject:      Re: Windowpoopies

MIME-Version: 1.0

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James Stauffer wrote:

>

> Bill Philibin wrote:

>

>  But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

> > a

> > > cool car?

>

> Look at the pictures of Plymell who has definitely owned and sold to

> cheap some very cool cars.

>

> I don't know if I myself count as a poetic Geek, but my coolest wheels

> have been a couple of Saab 96's, a wonderfully clean 1950 Ford pickup

> with a great flathead straight  6, one of the original RX-7's, and a

> wonderful 5 liter Mustang which kicked serious butt.  Nothing wrong with

> cool cars.  Best current wheels (but not running) a 1958 Vespa 150.

>

> J Stauffer

 

my best was a 63 white ford pickup called jennie, seat upholstered in my

childhood drapes, great roses with crawling leaves, p

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 01:16:46 -0700

Reply-To:     Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Re: traditionalism

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>=20

> Barbara Wirtz wrote:

>=20

> >Yes, I am obviously more of a traditionalist...and to a degree sound i=

s

> >as important as the images and messages in poetry...otherwise it might

> >as well be prose...a speech.  And Ginsberg does favor techniques used =

by

> >orators moreso than poets.  Also...I don't think poetry had been "boun=

d"

> >or "enslaved" my sound devices....It is a kind of music where one may

> >choose from a plethora of devices.  And honestly, Ginsberg is lacking =

in

> >that area.  I agree, his imagery  and tone are powerful, but he relies

> >heavily on parallelism and cataloging, but he never achieves the caden=

ce

> >of Whitman.  Albeit....if cacophony and anger are to be conveyed, he's

> >achieved it....But I still don't think he's the finest poet of this

> >century.

> >Respectfully,

> >Barb

 

> Sinverg=FCenza wrote:

> Ginsberg did take poetry to another level; it's been said that Howl was=

 the

> first real step forward for American poetry since Leaves of Grass.  I

> believe he achieved something unique and new with his poetry. Whether o=

r

> not sound devices "enslaved" poetry is not so important as the fact tha=

t

> Ginsberg was able to create great poetry without capitulating to them. =

He

> has helped poets find their own voice (as William C. Williams helped AG

> find his) by raising his own voice so loudly in his poems. To me, yes s=

ound

> is important in poetry, but ginsberg achieves beauty that Eliot  and ot=

her

> poets who followed more traditional forms never attained. When from the

> dirty ashes of the grief, pain, honesty, and madness of Kaddish come th=

e

> lines:

>=20

> Myself, anyhow, maybe as old as the universe--and I guess that dies wit=

h

>         us--enough to cancel all that comes--What came is gone forever

>         every time--

> Thats good! That leaves it open for no regret--no fear radiators, lackl=

ove,

>         torture even toothache in the end--

> Though while it comes it is a lion that eats the soul--and the lamb, th=

e soul,

>         in us, alas, offering itself in sacrifice to change's fierce

> hunger--hair

>         and teeth--and the roar of bonepain, skull bare, break rib, rot=

-skin

>         braintricked Implacability.

> Ai! ai! we do worse! We are in a fix! And you're out, Death let you out=

,

>         Death had the mercy, you're done with your century, done with

>         God, done with the path thru it-- Done with yourself at last--P=

ure

>         --Back to the Babe dark before your Father, before us all--befo=

re the

>         world--

>=20

> There, rest. No more suffering for you. I know where you've gone, it's =

good.

>=20

> I will sometimes become tearful when i read this aloud. The sound of th=

is

> poetry is Ginsberg reading it, yourself reading it, not the intricacies=

 of

> rhyme or the placement of syllables, but the pure experience of the bea=

uty

> of what the author has done. One can feel the man writing this: at once=

,

> being absorbed by the madness of his mother and somehow coming through =

the

> other side alright, absorbing it in himself; and this relates to ginsbe=

rg's

> capacity for compassion, and the essence of the Beats, that giving of

> oneself to life and allowing the beauty and art to come from within the

> experience of life. So was the art of the beats, in my opinion.

>         I could never see myself trading Howl or Kaddish for Ode On a

> Grecian Urn by Keats, but luckily, the world gets to have all three and

> take from them all and perhaps find themselves and their own voice in e=

ach.

> But in the end, whether in  pursuance of truth or of beauty the poet fi=

nds

> one within the other. Dickinson wrote about herself and another buried =

in

> the grave. She says "I died for beauty" and he says "I died for truth".

> They are one, and the companions talk to eachother through the walls un=

til

> moss grows over their lips.

>         To me, Ginsberg's formal style, whether poetic or oratory, is a=

s

> powerful and beautiful as the lyric of any other poet. He elevates man =

in

> the world; his sound device is that of life!

>=20

> -leo jilk

 

Excellent, excellent post.

I just want to add to that something William Carlos Williams wrote as an=20

introduction to Ginsberg's Empty Mirror, which was 1947-52, even=20

pre-Howl.

 

"This young Jewish boy, already not so young any more, has recognized=20

something that has escaped most of the modern age, he has found that man=20

is lost in the world of his own head.  And that the rhythms of the past=20

have become like an old field long left unploughed and fallen into=20

disuse.  In fact they are excavating there for a new industrial plant.

 

There the new inferno will soon be under construction.

 

A new sort of line, omitting memories of trees and watercourses and=20

clouds and pleasant glades--as empty of them as Dante Alighieri's Inferno=

=20

is empty of them--exists today.  It is measured in the passage of time=20

without accent, monotonous, useless--unless you are drawn to Dante was to=

=20

see the truth, undressed, and to sway to a beat that is far removed from=20

the beat of dancing feet but rather finds in the shuffling of human=20

beings in all the stages of their day, the trip to the bathroom, to the=20

stairs of the subway, the steps of the office or factory routine the=20

mystical measure of their passions.

 

It is indeed a human pilgrimage, like Geoffrey Chaucer's; poets had=20

better be aware of it and speak of it--and speak of it in plain terms,=20

such as men will recognize.  In the mystical beat of newspapers that no=20

one recognizes, their life is given back to them in plain terms.  Not one=

=20

recognizes Dante there fully deployed.  It is not recondite but plain.

 

And when the poet in his writing would scream of the crowd, like=20

Jeremiah, that there life is beset, what can he do, in the end, but speak=

=20

to them in their own language, that of the daily press?

 

And at the same time, out of his love for them--a poet as Dante was a=20

poet--he must use his art, as Dante used his art, to please.  He must so=20

disguise his lines, that his style appears prosaic (so that it shall not=20

offend) to go in a cloud.

 

With this, if it be possible, the hidden sweetness of the poem may alone=20

survive and one day rouse the sleeping world.

 

There cannot be any facile deception about it.  The writing cannot be=20

made to be "a kind of prose," not prose with a dirty wash of a stale poem=

=20

over it.  It must not set out, as poets are taught or have a tendency to=20

do, to deceive, to sneak over a poetic way of laying down phrases.  It=20

must be prose but prose among whose words the terror of their truth has=20

been discovered.

 

Here the terror of the scene has been laid bare in subtle measures, the=20

pages are warm with it.  The scene they evoke is terrifying more so than=20

Dante's pages, the poem is not suspect, the craft is flawless."

 

DC

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:33:54 -0700

Reply-To:     stauffer@pacbell.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James Stauffer <stauffer@PACBELL.NET>

Subject:      Re: Spirit present

MIME-Version: 1.0

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RACE --- wrote:

 

> not certain i understand the purpose of all this BUT

>

> according to my birth certificate I'm 35 years 9 months and 2 days on

> this Earth.

> but time is a relative thing don't ya know :)

>

> david rhaesa

> salina, Kansas

 

And you are only as pretty as you feel!

 

There was no best time to be alive.  Hell I was too late to be Dick

Powell in the Thin Man movies with Myrna Loy and way too late to eat

opium with Coleridge and DeQuincy.  Enjoy your epoch guys.  It's all

you've got.

 

J Stauffer

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 1997 23:37:26 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: Spirit present

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James Stauffer wrote:

>

> RACE --- wrote:

>

> > not certain i understand the purpose of all this BUT

> >

> > according to my birth certificate I'm 35 years 9 months and 2 days on

> > this Earth.

> > but time is a relative thing don't ya know :)

> >

> > david rhaesa

> > salina, Kansas

>

> And you are only as pretty as you feel!

>

> There was no best time to be alive.  Hell I was too late to be Dick

> Powell in the Thin Man movies with Myrna Loy and way too late to eat

> opium with Coleridge and DeQuincy.  Enjoy your epoch guys.  It's all

> you've got.

>

> J Stauffer

 

i'd have to say i found my life as Pandur lyric poet and trickster in

Ancient Greece the most interesting.

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 02:11:59 -0400

Reply-To:     Marioka7@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Maya Gorton <Marioka7@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: ReBirth Generation

Comments: To: neudorf@mainserver.discovland.net

 

In a message dated 97-06-19 01:43:27 EDT, you write:

 

<<   must not define ourselves (others will always lend a

 hand   was not Kerouac hesitant and alienated by critics and

 descriptions of the Beat Generation?)

..........................................................................

 - RHYTHMIC MISSIONARIES :  >>

 

Well, sounds like you've got it goin' on.  But while you're busy defining

yourself as a poet, don't forget to step down and be a human being sometimes

too.

 

Are you familiar with "the Last Poets"?  They read poetry to drums and other

noise.-----------------maya

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 02:26:17 -0400

Reply-To:     Marioka7@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Maya Gorton <Marioka7@AOL.COM>

Subject:      days of long posts

 

sorry about all the long posts lately.  I hope i haven't made everyone's

fingers delete-happy when they see my name.

>From now on, call me the queen of brevity.  Speaking of itchy

trigger-fingers, has anyone read Burroughs' "soft machine"?

(if anyone thinks that was in poor taste i'm sorry)---------maya

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 02:52:11 -0400

Reply-To:     Marioka7@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Maya Gorton <Marioka7@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: t.v.

 

In a message dated 97-06-19 02:30:00 EDT, you write:

 

<<

 sorry about that one - hit the wrong button in the address book --

 imagine that!

  >>

 

sorry about all previous messages. Must have been hitting the wrong button in

the address book this whole time--imagine that!  i grovel in humiliation and

tremble in anticipation of your wrath.  Flay me! Flagellate me! Scorn me with

your Beatness!  I will now recede back into my dark shell of lurkerdom.

 

"I can see the color of souls, and yours is white"

"i belong to her. I've belonged to her and I didn't know it. Goodbye,

daughter. The curse! the curse!"

"I will pray every day for you. From my dark well of loneliness i will pray

for you"

===== loops from: confessions of a knife, the Thrill Kill Kult (which IS a

beat-related band, thankyouverymuch)

 

Piece, -----------------maya

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 06:13:34 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      The FireWalk Saga continues

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

 

Let's see after shrink comes "Discussing the Bordello" - i think that

was in the first insomniatic musings post long long ago.

 

Next comes:

(Eulogy for the Dead Poetry Professor in all of us) i can't remember if

i put this one on the list or not.

 

special prize big sloppy kiss to anyone who can figure out why the title

of that one was in parantheses.

 

 

November 12th 1992.... typed (Eulogy for the Dead Poetry Professor in

all of us) . .. not certain why I put the title in parentheses.  that is

probably the most significant factor in the poem.  many other things I

noticed about the poem over time.  nobody that has read it seems to have

gotten close to these.  perhaps i=92ll begin to go into them after after

after typing the poem sometime.  first I need to put on some music to

type with.  for a Eulogy it seems Lou Reed=92s Magic and Loss is a fairly

good notion. =20

 

(Eulogy for the Dead Poetry Professor in all of us) ...=20

 

Poetry -- -- -- the art of glimpsing into the aleph ...the infinity and

nothingness of the unconsciousness and tapping into the streams of

consciousness ... rivers of images ... oceans of ideas ... symbols -

pictures - art ... POETRY ... free associating between unconscious

symbology like in a dream but your conscious mind is there too .. .

conscious and unconscious together joined in the poetic instant  --

reflexive -- instantaneous -- connections .... of images and ideas.

 

And it isn=92t found in dusty books ...You might find it there, but it=92=

s

in life ... it IS life, being in and out of existence at the same time

the connection of the images of the=20

 

                        you <in time and space>

 

                                with the images of=20

 

                        you <from the self

                                <<that lies outside those dimensions>>

                                                                >

 

and in the poetic instant -- life is real ... not plastic .... And it=92s

about the truth ..... !

 

=93What is the poetry about?=94 the worn English professor asks the wild

eyed freshman.  The professor was too worn to see the fire in the

student=92s eyes.  After years of neglect his poetic instinct was

tarnished....in hibernation.  he was happy if he got students to get

beyond the notion that =93poetry is something that rhymes=94.

 

But the wild eyed student glared at the worn professor angry for not

being noticed and he replied with what he felt was real:

=93Poetry is about the truth!=94 he exclaimed.

=93You can=92t say it=92s rational.  It doesn=92t follow the linear reaso=

ning of

philosophical or scientific thought.  Unlike mathematics poetry is the

belief that 1,7,4,9,8,3,4 is as logical -- or sensible -- a sequence as

1,2,3,4,5,6,7.....=94

 

The professor looks into the student=92s eyes into the fire of truth ...

laughs insanely ... and dies of a heartattack.

 

At least he died in a poetic instant, a poetic moment, the shock of

reconnecting with the place where the poetry is -- that space between

time and time between space -- where art resides, where the truth is

visible outside this plastic world.....

 

-- the shock -- it was too much for the old man thought the wild eyed

student.  And then he laughed and he laughed and the other students

stared and they stared. =20

 

And the senior class President asked =93What are you laughing about ?  --

you wild eyed boy !!!=94=20

 

And the boy said: =93He answered his own question.=94

 

The Class President stared at him.....the rest of the class stared at

him. =20

 

=93:Don=92t you get it.  He=92s been wanting to know what poetry=92s

about....He=92s been asking the same question year after year and he

doesn=92t find a satisfactory answer ... he doesn=92t find the truth so h=

e

waits in his office for another semester ... another term ... another

chance to ask THE QUESTION ... and another term to dismiss their answers

one by one - - =93

 

Until I retire to the study to the office hoping that someone will bring

me the answer.  The waiting.  The wait.  That was his life.  And finally

somebody has the guts to answer the question.  What is poetry about?=20

It=92s about the fucking truth old man.  It=92s about life.  It=92s not a=

bout

hiding in your study year after year while the truth runs wild in the

streets and hallways.  Its about going places....on your feet ... in

your mind ... it=92s active.

 

What is poetry about?  It=92s about seeing infinity and nothing collapse

into each other and surviving the vision...the sound...the experience to

share it with others.  And you finally had the nerve to turn and face

the answer to see chaos staring back from your bathroom mirror to hear

the laughter of the abyss rolling like thunder through your ears while

you strain to listen to Lou Reed talk of friends and death .....

 

you had the nerve. ..........and you turned and the streams of

conscious, the wiring of your mind criss-crossed and you saw:  POETRY,

TRUTH ... the space between the lies we all live and you were afraid of

the vision .... afraid to go back and share it and so you did what so

many of them do .................. you died.

 

[a brief reminder to myself to discuss the extreme anguish involved in

the decision to apply for disability to leave the teaching profession

... the debates with Eduardo about it ... and the recognition that my

thought leads to madness and I couldn=92t stand to lead other folks in

that direction ... a part of me definitely died with that decision I

imagine ... back to the poem]

 

There are really only three choices you know.  You can die.  You can go

insane.  Or you can go back into the cave and help people to understand

the truth.  The first is the easiest.  You took the easy root -- easy

route old man.  At least if you went insane you might be able to cross

reality planes with the rest of us and help us keep our balance.

 

But death it seems like a real cop out - although I can=92t blame anyone

who chooses death either by suicide or natural causes.  Life can really

wear you down. =20

 

So I don=92t blame you old man for choosing death....And I don=92t blame =

you

for going nuts.  I understand that from where you=92ve been, your ideas

make just as much sense as this rational sane society that we find

ourselves trapped in.

 

So you choose to go back to try and share and you=92re sitting at the

table talking to the student and she=92s not plastic like the rest but

she=92s seen so little.  You wonder if you have the patience to share all

of this much longer.

 

[somewhere I may have a copy of the article the young student =93wendy?=94

wrote based on the interview.  a big block quotation from me somewhere

in the mixture.  I remember reading it and saying =93Did I say that ???=94=

=20

That sounds pretty good]=20

 

She asks you =93What is a radical in our culture today?=94  =93Is there a

place for radicals?=94.....

 

And you tell her that you don=92t like the word =93radical.=94  It=92s th=

em

labeling us.  It=92s a label of domination....Just like insane or mentall=

y

ill.      It says you=92re out of the mainstream of society....And even

though their river is flowing full of blood not water poison liquids of

culture flowing through them all gradually forming into the plastic that

surrounds their lives --  =20

 

they like their river.

 

And since you see other rivers -- other oceans -- other thoughts and

dreams you are a threat to the main stream.  The mainstream might not be

the main one anymore if they see all those other streams all those other

pictures so they call you a radical. =20

 

Well what does it really tell you about me if someone tells you that

=93I=92m a radical.=94  does it tell you something like =93I=92m a poet-I=

=92m an

artist-I=92m a capitalist-a pastor- a doctor-lawyer-dental assistant=94=20

It=92s just labels trying to define you

 

                        Tell you what you are what you think

 

Who am I?  I am who I am.  I stole that last line from somewhere maybe a

children=92s cartoon character or maybe from God, I don=92t remember but =

I

don=92t think anybody will mind........

 

=93What=92s the place for radicals in our culture?=94

 

Not much use for them, it seems.  But you need a few now and then just

to scare people into not changing anything much.  Rebels.  Are rebels

the same as radicals?  Can I be radically non-rebellious?=20

 

At least in your dreams, said the psychiatrist.  Just take four lithium

and call me in the morning.

 

And i=92m in the attic now Nearly moved from my cave and as I look out

over the Mississippi River into Davenport Iowa I wonder what the people

are thinking in Davenport and I wonder if this is where Kerouac was when

he realized that God really is Pooh-Bear and ........

 

Lou Reed says I want all of it ... not just some of it .... and I pause,

radically, and wonder ....if I really want all of it, i=92m not even sure

how much of it I need.......

 

and somehow in this attic -- cold air leaking in through the windows it

seems like I have found it.

 

What is poetry about?  If you have to ask you just don=92t get it.  And h=

e

shuts the office door and never returns ...

 

and the dream of the wild-eyed boy comes back whenever he slips into the

plastic places and pushes him back to the place where the poetry is

..... the nexus, the aleph ....=20

the truth of infinity and nothing in one poetic moment.

 

That instant contains all of it.   Explore that one instant and you will

see it all .....

 

[ funny that I picked the CD I was listening to when I wrote this to

listen to when I retyped it into this missive.  when I turned a page and

saw that it was one of those shocking criss-crossed visions of something

beyond the beyond of the beyond that it is useless to even begin to

attempt to explain here and now or there in eternity or from one to the

other or both ....]

 

FireWalk Thru Madness Colletion, Copyright December 1992 David B. Rhaesa

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 06:18:10 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      More FireWalk shorties

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

 

Lynnea set some kind of timer and we had to write fast ... she convinced

me to include mine in this collection back then.

 

FireWalk Through Madness, copyright December 1992, David B. Rhaesa

 

PICASO=92S WHISKERS December 1, 1992  (at Lynnea=92s)

 

Thelonius Monk following Xmas carols with the Lettermen as tress get

axed or hatcheted and trimming wreathes between Picaso=92s whiskers.

 

Picaso on your back?  or monekey?

 

Almost caught the Soft Machine twists and turns like at the laundromat.

 

Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm until the volume is turned up on

William S. Burroughs reading the Sermon on the Mount in your living room

with background noises like Grouch Marx singing the Communist Manisfesto

and Richard Nixon reciting Mein Kampf from memory on the VCR above your

bathroom mirror.

 

Lenin and Emma Goldman met in Mel=92s diner on Thanksgiving to talk with

Alice about opening her own restaraunt specializing in Animal Crackers

in Stockbridge Massachusetts with proceeds going to the Vietnam Vets

hooked on heroin in their flashback fatigues.  Mel said she=92d open it b=

y

Xmas and Thelonious Monk will play Jingle Bells on Halloween Night.

 

So this is one of many and many upon many things written in the attic.=20

i=92ll try and tell more about the magical attic and its ghosts and

raccoons somewhere along the line.

 

MILK and HONEY NIGHTMARE December 1, 1992 (at Lynnea=92s)

 

Young Picaso, First Christmas tree branch paws play raquetball with

white rabbit over turtle soup at Casey=92s in Milan, Italy next to the

Pope=92s Columbus Day Parade.

 

In December of 1892 the Boardwalk at Atlantic City turned inside out and

was a stairway to Atlantis that only I could see from the decades of

bloodshed over milk and honey, crackers in bed and tulip farmer=92s labor

contracts.

 

After the war things settled back to normal in Nantucket but ethnic

strife over baseball card pricing started a nuclear nightmare in the

German Shepherd=92s mind.  He was named Boxer and he turned into a

cockroach to avoid the radiation therapy because he was misdiagnosed and

didn=92t have liver cancer.

 

PEEPING ANGEL SEX FANTASY #3  December 1, 1992 (at Lynnea=92s)

 

The kids in girl and boy land just West of Tangier -- Incredible,

Instinctual for the mouth to open on the nipple.

 

Freud would say it=92s sexual but Nancy Wilson says love me for Christmas

and she grins at the Christmas kiss - As she sings of Bethelehem and sex

in a stable - instinctual, incredible - silent stars go by in his mind

at the fantasy=92s peak and her eyes are closed as she rubs his furry arm.

 

Dreaming in a barnyard with Angels Peeping through the curtain at the

intimate rendevouz.

 

 

 

 

all for now -- i'm still typing the next one which is the longest in the

whole thing and perhaps will be skipped altogether.  it is very

important but just too damn long for most people's eyes.

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

 

p.s.  does anybody know how you get things published...i'm clueless.

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 07:26:03 -0400

Reply-To:     Sara Feustle <sfeustl@UOFT02.UTOLEDO.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Sara Feustle <sfeustl@UOFT02.UTOLEDO.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Cool cars

Comments: To: CVEditions@AOL.COM

In-Reply-To:  <970618223731_202099211@emout06.mail.aol.com>

MIME-version: 1.0

Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

At 10:39 PM 6/18/97 -0400, Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

>In a message dated 97-06-18 18:19:08 EDT, you write:

>

><< Mine looks that way anyway!!!! But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

>a

> cool car? >>

>I had a cool '53 Buick Riviera in 1953, if you want to read about in it LOM.

>I spit Oxybiotic on the door and it ate the paint off. I also had a '52 MGTD

>that Billy Batman gave us on the streets of SF in 1967. The last cool car I

>had was a '66 Mustang convertible which had a photo of Janis Joplin in it and

>cassette with the original Mustang Sally by Wicked Wilson Pickett. I think

>that's cool though you might I think I'm a geek or a freak.

>Charles Plymell

 

        No one on this list is a geek or a freak. We're the only normal people in

the world! Call me stupid....but what's "Oxybiotic?" --Sara

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 09:27:03 EDT

Reply-To:     Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Subject:      Ginsberg & Eliot

 

I'm not sure that I'd agree that a major distinction between Eliot and

Ginsberg was that Ginsberg turned away from Europe.  In fact much of his

poetry is influenced by European writers, particularly surrealist poets.

He was also influenced by Rimbaud, Essenin, Mayakovsky, Celine, to

mention a few.  If you look at "Gates of Wrath," I think you'll see

Ginsberg's early poems reveal heavy 17th century English influences, a

style promoted by Eliot and the New Critics.  But Ginsberg quickly

rejected that style.  Ginsberg biggest difference from Eliot is probably

that he wanted to return poetry to its roots in song.  As he grew older,

he seemed to move more and more in this direction.   Sure, he was

greatly influenced by Whitman and Williams but he was also a son of

William Blake.

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 09:14:28 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: Ginsberg & Eliot

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Bill Gargan wrote:

>

> I'm not sure that I'd agree that a major distinction between Eliot and

> Ginsberg was that Ginsberg turned away from Europe.  In fact much of his

> poetry is influenced by European writers, particularly surrealist poets.

> He was also influenced by Rimbaud, Essenin, Mayakovsky, Celine, to

> mention a few.  If you look at "Gates of Wrath," I think you'll see

> Ginsberg's early poems reveal heavy 17th century English influences, a

> style promoted by Eliot and the New Critics.  But Ginsberg quickly

> rejected that style.  Ginsberg biggest difference from Eliot is probably

> that he wanted to return poetry to its roots in song.  As he grew older,

> he seemed to move more and more in this direction.   Sure, he was

> greatly influenced by Whitman and Williams but he was also a son of

> William Blake.

 

i think that this makes an INCREDIBLY useful point.  To package a poet

into a neat bundle and then look at the influences on the package seems

to make the poet less than human.  Poets live their life in time too and

the influences come and go - just like they do for us "normal" folks :)

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 10:51:09 -0400

Reply-To:     Marie Countryman <country@SOVER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Marie Countryman <country@SOVER.NET>

Subject:      Re: Windowpoopies

In-Reply-To:  <3.0.1.32.19970618120043.00699954@uoft02.utoledo.edu>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

and all this time i had a vision of mad, laughing poets mooning the world

from open windows!

mc

definitely *not* a rocket scientist

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 10:51:14 -0400

Reply-To:     Marie Countryman <country@SOVER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Marie Countryman <country@SOVER.NET>

Subject:      Re: blake and all

In-Reply-To:  <v03007805afce165c3c4f@[156.46.45.82]>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

and yes of course all the rest is pure poetry .. i love his pomes about his

wife, his children and his wit. in the dark with you, is full of love and

satire. straight to the heart.

 

>Marie,

>Great take on Greg Brown. His innocence/experience CD is exceptional, but

>on each of his CDs--and his music is all original with the exception of a

>Jimmy Rogers song I heard him sing--you'll find lyrics--pure poetry-- that

>would stand alone without the music. When Greg's daughter Pieta and my

>Charity were pre-school they were part of our coop daycare center in Iowa

>City called Alice's Bijou. Long gone now, but back then Greg would help

>with fund raising, all the parents worked,and we had full-time day care for

>$20.00 a month. As long as Alices existed it was a must stop for Michael

>Harrington whenever he was in i.c.

>

>I'm drifting. Back to the poetry of GB. AS far as I'm concerned greg is one

>of the best poets to ever come out of Iowa City--and he didn't spend any

>time with the workshop.

>

>j grant

>

>

>

>

>                BE ON THE WATCH

>for items stolen from the Keroauc Collection

>        O'Leary Library, U Mass, Lowell

>http://www.bookzen.com/kerouac.theft.html

>

>Academic & Small Press Authors & publishers

>                display books free at

>           <http://www.bookzen.com>

>     302,443  visitors since July 1, 1996

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 10:51:19 -0400

Reply-To:     Marie Countryman <country@SOVER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Marie Countryman <country@SOVER.NET>

Subject:      michael czarnecki's cool car

In-Reply-To:  <33A89C38.1D8@midusa.net>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

hey michael, are you still subbed as you go on yr travels with little mac

classic in hand? in my opinion a 'really cool car' is one that has a

tender/angry/authentic beat or not poet at the wheel. happy trails,

michael, hope you send us a bit of yr travel adventures along the open road.

mc

 

>Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

>>

>> In a message dated 97-06-18 18:19:08 EDT, you write:

>>

>> << Mine looks that way anyway!!!! But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

>> a

>>  cool car? >>

>> I had a cool '53 Buick Riviera in 1953, if you want to read about in it LOM.

>> I spit Oxybiotic on the door and it ate the paint off. I also had a '52 MGTD

>> that Billy Batman gave us on the streets of SF in 1967. The last cool car I

>> had was a '66 Mustang convertible which had a photo of Janis Joplin in

>>it and

>> cassette with the original Mustang Sally by Wicked Wilson Pickett. I think

>> that's cool though you might I think I'm a geek or a freak.

>> Charles Plymell

>

>didn't you have a cool-car here in Salina back in '49????

>

>david rhaesa

>salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 12:28:45 -0700

Reply-To:     Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Re: Ginsberg & Eliot

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

>

> Bill Gargan wrote:

> >

> > I'm not sure that I'd agree that a major distinction between Eliot and

> > Ginsberg was that Ginsberg turned away from Europe.  In fact much of his

> > poetry is influenced by European writers, particularly surrealist poets.

> > He was also influenced by Rimbaud, Essenin, Mayakovsky, Celine, to

> > mention a few.  If you look at "Gates of Wrath," I think you'll see

> > Ginsberg's early poems reveal heavy 17th century English influences, a

> > style promoted by Eliot and the New Critics.  But Ginsberg quickly

> > rejected that style.  Ginsberg biggest difference from Eliot is probably

> > that he wanted to return poetry to its roots in song.  As he grew older,

> > he seemed to move more and more in this direction.   Sure, he was

> > greatly influenced by Whitman and Williams but he was also a son of

> > William Blake.

>

 

RACE --- wrote:

> i think that this makes an INCREDIBLY useful point.  To package a poet

> into a neat bundle and then look at the influences on the package seems

> to make the poet less than human.  Poets live their life in time too and

> the influences come and go - just like they do for us "normal" folks :)

>

> david rhaesa

> salina, Kansas

 

I am very interested in studying the Blake/Ginsberg connection more, and

in looking at some of the writings Tony Trigilio referenced earlier.  I

have always seen Blake when reading Ginsberg but have never read anything

Ginsberg wrote about Blake.

 

As far as "to package a poet into a neat bundle and look at the

influences on the package seems to make a poet less human,"  I think I

see the opposite.  First of all no poet can be packaged in a neat bundle,

it just can't be done, and I give that point to some who think I have

done so with Eliot.  Looking at the influences on a particular poet,

however, can actually make that poet come more alive.  It's true

influences come and go, and we can never understand everything, but the

more we can understand the more fully the depth of a poet's work can be

realized.  My view is that each of us carries within us the entire

consciousness of the human race, and while much of that is unconscious,

the more that is brought to light, gives us a better understanding of

ourselves and thus our humanness, which is the concern of every poet.

It's true that to analyze the shit out of something sometimes dimishes

from the initial truth and beauty of it.  That's a thin line walked by

literary critics.  But on the whole I think examining how and why writers

wrote certain things overall enlarges the scope of their work.

DC

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 12:47:15 -0700

Reply-To:     Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Re: Eliot vs. Ginsberg (was Re: lurker speaks)

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Tony Trigilio wrote:

>(much snipped to make my response shorter)

>> As for the "concerns of poetry as a whole" pointing to a concern for

> "humanness," well, I would say that this *might* be an apt description

>of

> my favorite poets . . . maybe yours, too, since we've met up here on

> BEAT-L.  Then again, I'm not so sure that Western humanism is what

>Ginsberg

> is most moved by.  I would say he's most interested in re-defining what <it

> means to be human.  But that's for another discussion (a good one, I'm

>sure).

 

 

redefining what it means to be human--that's a discussion I would love to

take up.   Feel free to start putting out your ideas, I'll have more on

that later.

 

 

>And the Eliot quote on

> Blake:  compare Eliot here to Harold Bloom's stubborn and un-energetic

> reading of *Kaddish*, reprinted in Bloom's *The Ringers in the Tower*.  The

> Eliot and Bloom essays are fine examples of the kinds of blinders that

> prevent cultural guardians from seeing the limitations of their own

>systems.

 

I have heard of Bloom's essay but never read it.  Do you know if it is

part of any internet site?  I have to say I have been acutely

disappointed in what I have heard of what Bloom thought of Ginsberg's

poetry, and how he did not include it in some twentieth century poetry

collection he edited.  Among those I studied with in college, Bloom was a

god, probably the most respected literary critic.  I'm sorry to see that

he ended up on the side of cultural guardians.

 

Tony, thanks for all of your contributions to this thread, you have given

me many ideas to explore on my own.

 

DC

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 13:06:53 -0700

Reply-To:     Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Re: Kerouac: The meaning of life?

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Attila Gyenis wrote:

>

>

> I think religion's concept of heaven (and hell) is a way to have poor people

> accept their fate instead of fighting for justice.

>

> It's a way for many people to do what they want, knowing that they have a

> chance to repent at the end.

>

> It allows people to not be accountable for their actions here on earth,

> because they are being graded up in heaven.

>

> And of course, the real question is whether there really is a heaven. And if

> there isn't, it it acceptable to say there is a heaven just so that they (the

> church) can herd the people in a certain direction?

>

> Hypothetical question: Does a rock have a 'purpose'. Is it a bigger or

> smaller purpose then a human. Is it a better or worse purpose then a human's.

 

I don't think that with the religious conception of heaven, a person can

do anything he wants eyeing the repentence at the end as a guarantee of

entrance to heaven.  I thought that doing it with that notion would imply

the opposite.  Saying, for instance, I'm going to murder this person

today, repent tomorrow, and then everything will be OK and I'll still go

to heaven was a distinct no-no.  That is not a sincere repentance.  Maybe

I am putting forth the protestant concept here and the catholic one is

different, I don't know.

 

Hypothetical answer--A rock does have a purpose and it is no greater or

smaller a purpose than a human one.  Also not better or worse. All things

exist equally in the moment.

 

DC

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 12:20:03 -0400

Reply-To:     Marioka7@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Maya Gorton <Marioka7@AOL.COM>

Subject:      sunspots

 

sunspots burning in your eyes

hope they dont burn out

or i don't gouge them inadvertently

which happens sometimes

to people i love

but don't worry i don't love you

i love my typewriter

it never lies

or looks at me with deceiving eyes

who pretend to hold

brightness.

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 09:23:39 -0700

Reply-To:     stauffer@pacbell.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James Stauffer <stauffer@PACBELL.NET>

Subject:      Re: Oxybiotic

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Sara Feustle wrote:

>

> At 10:39 PM 6/18/97 -0400, Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

> >In a message dated 97-06-18 18:19:08 EDT, you write:

> >

> ><< Mine looks that way anyway!!!! But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

> >a

> > cool car? >>

> >I had a cool '53 Buick Riviera in 1953, if you want to read about in it LOM.

> >I spit Oxybiotic on the door and it ate the paint off. I also had a '52 MGTD

> >that Billy Batman gave us on the streets of SF in 1967. The last cool car I

> >had was a '66 Mustang convertible which had a photo of Janis Joplin in it and

> >cassette with the original Mustang Sally by Wicked Wilson Pickett. I think

> >that's cool though you might I think I'm a geek or a freak.

> >Charles Plymell

>

>         No one on this list is a geek or a freak. We're the only normal people

 in

> the world! Call me stupid....but what's "Oxybiotic?" --Sara

> >

 

It's all in "Last of the Mocassins"

 

"We used to get what was called Oxy-Biotic which was a brand of nose

drops that would make the present day methedrine seem mild.  "Oxy-Biotic

will make ypu neurotic!"  (p. 29)

J Stauffer

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 11:30:31 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: Ginsberg & Eliot

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Diane Carter wrote:

>

> >

> > Bill Gargan wrote:

> > >

> > > I'm not sure that I'd agree that a major distinction between Eliot and

> > > Ginsberg was that Ginsberg turned away from Europe.  In fact much of his

> > > poetry is influenced by European writers, particularly surrealist poets.

> > > He was also influenced by Rimbaud, Essenin, Mayakovsky, Celine, to

> > > mention a few.  If you look at "Gates of Wrath," I think you'll see

> > > Ginsberg's early poems reveal heavy 17th century English influences, a

> > > style promoted by Eliot and the New Critics.  But Ginsberg quickly

> > > rejected that style.  Ginsberg biggest difference from Eliot is probably

> > > that he wanted to return poetry to its roots in song.  As he grew older,

> > > he seemed to move more and more in this direction.   Sure, he was

> > > greatly influenced by Whitman and Williams but he was also a son of

> > > William Blake.

> >

>

> RACE --- wrote:

> > i think that this makes an INCREDIBLY useful point.  To package a poet

> > into a neat bundle and then look at the influences on the package seems

> > to make the poet less than human.  Poets live their life in time too and

> > the influences come and go - just like they do for us "normal" folks :)

> >

> > david rhaesa

> > salina, Kansas

>

> I am very interested in studying the Blake/Ginsberg connection more, and

> in looking at some of the writings Tony Trigilio referenced earlier.  I

> have always seen Blake when reading Ginsberg but have never read anything

> Ginsberg wrote about Blake.

>

> As far as "to package a poet into a neat bundle and look at the

> influences on the package seems to make a poet less human,"  I think I

> see the opposite.  First of all no poet can be packaged in a neat bundle,

> it just can't be done, and I give that point to some who think I have

> done so with Eliot.  Looking at the influences on a particular poet,

> however, can actually make that poet come more alive.  It's true

> influences come and go, and we can never understand everything, but the

> more we can understand the more fully the depth of a poet's work can be

> realized.  My view is that each of us carries within us the entire

> consciousness of the human race, and while much of that is unconscious,

> the more that is brought to light, gives us a better understanding of

> ourselves and thus our humanness, which is the concern of every poet.

> It's true that to analyze the shit out of something sometimes dimishes

> from the initial truth and beauty of it.  That's a thin line walked by

> literary critics.  But on the whole I think examining how and why writers

> wrote certain things overall enlarges the scope of their work.

> DC

 

my point is that one's influences change dramatically in a different

lifetime.  and the significance of the influence changes during the

lifetime as well.  someone who is MAJOR in the early years may become

minor as an influence in later writings.  a non-literati example, dylan

is incredibly influenced by Guthrie in the early days.  after Highway

61, the Guthrie influence is minor and later very very difficult to

catch for the untrained ear/eye.  some folks during their lifetime take

compleat flip-flops concerning influences.  i was so turned on the first

time i read Kerouac.  later i thought, blasphemously, "whatever" he's

just looking out a car window, now i'm back to gobbling him up like

fancy food.  not that i'm a poet mind you.

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 11:34:42 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: Kerouac: The meaning of life?

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Diane Carter wrote:

>

> Attila Gyenis wrote:

> >

> >

> > I think religion's concept of heaven (and hell) is a way to have poor people

> > accept their fate instead of fighting for justice.

> >

> > It's a way for many people to do what they want, knowing that they have a

> > chance to repent at the end.

> >

> > It allows people to not be accountable for their actions here on earth,

> > because they are being graded up in heaven.

> >

> > And of course, the real question is whether there really is a heaven. And if

> > there isn't, it it acceptable to say there is a heaven just so that they

 (the

> > church) can herd the people in a certain direction?

> >

> > Hypothetical question: Does a rock have a 'purpose'. Is it a bigger or

> > smaller purpose then a human. Is it a better or worse purpose then a

 human's.

>

> I don't think that with the religious conception of heaven, a person can

> do anything he wants eyeing the repentence at the end as a guarantee of

> entrance to heaven.  I thought that doing it with that notion would imply

> the opposite.  Saying, for instance, I'm going to murder this person

> today, repent tomorrow, and then everything will be OK and I'll still go

> to heaven was a distinct no-no.  That is not a sincere repentance.  Maybe

> I am putting forth the protestant concept here and the catholic one is

> different, I don't know.

>

> Hypothetical answer--A rock does have a purpose and it is no greater or

> smaller a purpose than a human one.  Also not better or worse. All things

> exist equally in the moment.

>

> DC

 

i have a distinct memory of connecting with a frog-shaped rock in the

garden at 1012 Marquette in Davenport, Iowa.  Not necessarily talk but

more an affective link something like "i'm here, life pretty constant, i

see comings and goings and am invisible to most."  i learned a lot from

that rock about invisibility.

[post hallucinogenic period story]

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 11:43:02 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: sunspots

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Maya Gorton wrote:

>

> sunspots burning in your eyes

> hope they dont burn out

> or i don't gouge them inadvertently

> which happens sometimes

> to people i love

> but don't worry i don't love you

> i love my typewriter

> it never lies

> or looks at me with deceiving eyes

> who pretend to hold

> brightness.

 

i'd like the brand on that saintly typewriter.

hell - give me one for Xmas.

if my keyboard doesn't deceive

than my fingertips certainly do.

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 11:58:20 -0500

Reply-To:     thomjj01@HOLMES.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Jennifer Thompson <thomjj01@HOLMES.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU>

Subject:      Re: last words..part 1(actual title: "Secrets")

Comments: To: Maya Gorton <Marioka7@AOL.COM>

In-Reply-To:  <970617125059_-126888412@emout05.mail.aol.com>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

Maya,

        Your paper reminds me of some of Alice Walker's ideals.

Particularly the concepts found in her novel, _Temple of My Familiar_.

Have you ever read her?

        Keep up the creative work; I've enjoyed and been inspired by

your contributions for quite some time now.

Jenn Thompson

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 12:48:44 -0700

Reply-To:     mike@infinet.com

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Michael L. Buchenroth" <mike@INFINET.COM>

Organization: Buchenroth Publishing Company

Subject:      Re: Best concept

Comments: To: "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

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R. Bentz Kirby wrote:

... noticed how

> children from the same parents seem to have different parents and even

> different "lives".  If you have watched, it will  convince you that we

> are reincarnated.

>

> When he was 3, Richard told me that we live in a desert and that Jesus

> brings us water.

 

Mr. Kirby:

In case you haven't read these books, you would certainly find them

interesting, perhaps:

 

Anderson, Ian: Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (Charlottesville

Press, VA), University Press of Virginia, 1974

--Children Who Remember Their Past Lives (Charlottes Press) University

Press of Virginia, 1987

Dr. Anderson has spent most of his adult life interviewing children such

as your son who describe previous life events. Dr. Anderson, then

documents these descriptions against this life as much as possible. He

has come closer to actual documentaiton of reincarnation than any

researcher I have heard about.

 

Or a more Commerically oriented book by:

 

Whitton, Joel L, Fisher, Joe: Life Between Life, (New York: Doubleday,

1986).

 

-Mike

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 09:59:17 -0700

Reply-To:     Leon Tabory <letabor@CRUZIO.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Leon Tabory <letabor@CRUZIO.COM>

Subject:      Re: t.v.

Comments: To: Marioka7@aol.com

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

What's this all about? I thought the "wrong button" refered only to the

fact that David sent us a post that he meant to send to another address.

 

By the way having just returned from a month's absence from the list I

was absolutely delighted to find your youth full voice resonating so

brightly in our midst. You have put some amount of energy, dedication

and passion for the future of humanity in the work that you posted for

us to consider. The delete button works well for any of us when

something is too whatever for our interest.

 

Not that I agree with all of your conclusions. I don't think, for

example that those of us who chose to resist oppression wasted our

lives, or empowered the oppressors. It may well turn out that all of the

ways that good people arrive at are needed and useful. I hope that your

posts will continue to brighten our list.

 

BTW, in response to your earlier question, yes I was around in the

sixties. You can see some earlier posts about that in

 

        http://www.levity.com/corduroy/journals/tabory.htm

 

Two more cents about "born too late". While I am glad I was around

things that were happening then, I am no less happy to be around things

that are happening today. You have more exciting tomorrows to look

forward to than yesterdays. As thrilling as those may seem. Disaffection

from the prevailing bs of the day was and is our quest for better things

to come. I hope your posts continue.

 

Leon

Maya Gorton wrote:

In a message dated 97-06-19 02:30:00 EDT, you write:

>

> <<

>  sorry about that one - hit the wrong button in the address book --

>  imagine that!

>   >>

>

> sorry about all previous messages. Must have been hitting the wrong button in

> the address book this whole time--imagine that!  i grovel in humiliation and

> tremble in anticipation of your wrath.  Flay me! Flagellate me! Scorn me with

> your Beatness!  I will now recede back into my dark shell of lurkerdom.

>

> "I can see the color of souls, and yours is white"

> "i belong to her. I've belonged to her and I didn't know it. Goodbye,

> daughter. The curse! the curse!"

> "I will pray every day for you. From my dark well of loneliness i will pray

> for you"

> ===== loops from: confessions of a knife, the Thrill Kill Kult (which IS a

> beat-related band, thankyouverymuch)

>

> Piece, -----------------maya

> .-

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 12:59:22 -0700

Reply-To:     mike@infinet.com

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Michael L. Buchenroth" <mike@INFINET.COM>

Organization: Buchenroth Publishing Company

Subject:      Re: Cool cars

Comments: To: Sara Feustle <sfeustl@UOFT02.UTOLEDO.EDU>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Sara Feustle wrote:

>

> At 10:39 PM 6/18/97 -0400, Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

> >In a message dated 97-06-18 18:19:08 EDT, you write:

> >

> ><< Mine looks that way anyway!!!! But has any poet/literary geek ever driven

> >a

> > cool car? >>

> >I had a cool '53 Buick Riviera in 1953, if you want to read about in it LOM.

> >I spit Oxybiotic on the door and it ate the paint off. I also had a '52 MGTD

> >that Billy Batman gave us on the streets of SF in 1967. The last cool car I

> >had was a '66 Mustang convertible which had a photo of Janis Joplin in it and

> >cassette with the original Mustang Sally by Wicked Wilson Pickett. I think

> >that's cool though you might I think I'm a geek or a freak.

> >Charles Plymell

>

>         No one on this list is a geek or a freak. We're the only normal people

 in

> the world! Call me stupid....but what's "Oxybiotic?" --Sara

> >

 

"Oxy-Biotic will make you neurotic.... "

see....

Plymell, Charles: Last of the Moccasins, (Albuquerque, NM, Mother Road

Publications, 1996), pp 29-31.

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 13:31:37 -0400

Reply-To:     GYENIS@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Attila Gyenis <GYENIS@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Last Word (secrets) continued

 

In a message dated 97-06-17 13:04:37 EDT, Marioka7@AOL.COM (Maya Gorton)

writes:

 

<< DO YOU FEEL IT IN YOUR BRAIN?  DO YOU FEEL IT IN YOUR VEIN?

 

     i do not feel it here nor there! nor ANYWHERE!

                   NOT IN MY BRAIN

                   NOT IN THE RAIN

                   ALL IS IN VAIN

                   I MUST BE INSANE.............

 

  >>

 

I am pretty sure that this is Dr. Seuss, so I must assume that Dr. Seuss is a

Beat.

 

I do not like green eggs and ham,

Attila

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 14:37:51 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz kirby

Subject:      reincarnation

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

I went to my newsreader.  There is a new newsgroup,

alt.paranormal.reincarnation.  I figured, there are on accidents, I

subscribed.

 

 

--

 

Peace,

 

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 15:32:09 -0400

Reply-To:     Ted Harms <tmharms@LIBRARY.UWATERLOO.CA>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Ted Harms <tmharms@LIBRARY.UWATERLOO.CA>

Subject:      tracking Ginsberg quote

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

Can any of Ginsberg fans (Ginsbergians? Ginsbergaphiles?) trace a fragment

for me.  All I can remember about it is something about 'Chinamen and

their secret heroes'.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Of course, I'm going to feel like a real knob if this line isn't from

AG...

 

 

Ted Harms                         Library, Univ. of Waterloo

tmharms@library.uwaterloo.ca              519.888.4567 x3761

"...it's elephants all the way down." - from Hindu cosmology

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 15:07:41 EDT

Reply-To:     Joe <100106.1102@COMPUSERVE.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Joe <100106.1102@COMPUSERVE.COM>

Subject:      The cows know

 

>Humans are one of the few animals (if not the only animal) that are aware of

>the fact that they are going to die. They have this knowledge from a very

 

>Attila

 

 Attila, haven't you heard the Meat is Murder album by a British band called

 The Smiths?  The album begins with the sound of cows being herded into an

 Abattoir.  The cows really sound like they are aware and know they're going to

 die!

 

 I'm not nitpicking at you Attila and this is not a stab at meat-eaters - if it

 were I'd be stabbing myself!

 

 

 Joe

 NewCastleUnitedKingdom

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 19 Jun 1997 14:58:56 +0000

Reply-To:     "neudorf@discovland.net" <neudorf@DISCOVLAND.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "neudorf@discovland.net" <neudorf@DISCOVLAND.NET>

Subject:      The Poet as Human

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

In response to Maya's:

 

> Well, sounds like you've got it goin' on.  But while you're busy

> defining yourself as a poet, don't forget to step down and be a

> human being sometimes too.

 

> Are you familiar with "the Last Poets"?  They read poetry to drums

> and other noise.-----------------maya

 

 

To be human is to be poet. Ralph Waldo Emerson writes in his essay, 'The

Poet':

 

                "[T]he poet's habit of living should be set on a key so low

        that the common influences should delight him. His cheerfulness

        should be the gift of the sunlight; the air should suffice for his

        inspiration, and he should be tipsy with water . . .

                "Poets are thus liberating gods."

 

This isn't much different from Kerouac's "List of Essentials":

 

        #2.  Submissive to everything, open, listening

        #4.  Be in love with yr life

        #29. You're a Genius all the time

                        [or, what you write is pure genius]

 

        My relationship with "The Last Poets" is mostly musical. I don't learn

from them as poets. The artists for me are those who move me to write,

who demand of myself to add to what has been created. #29 must always be

kept in mind, as well, it must be kept in check.

 

Joseph Neudorfer

neudorf@discovland.net

 



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