Tag Archives: The Beats
We Couldn’t Stand It
“It was horrible to hear Camille sobbing so. We couldn’t stand it and went out to buy beer.” ~Jack Kerouac as Sal Paradise in On The Road, ©1957 Not exactly overflowing with the milk of human kindness, are you there, Jack?
“It’s sad and I don’t like it.”
Excerpted from On The Road by Jack Kerouac, ©1957: Dean was having his kicks; he put on a jazz record, grabbed Marylou, held her tight, and bounced against her with the beat of the music. She bounced right back. It was a real love dance. lan MacArthur came in with a huge gang. The New …
Sam Gaillard
Jack Kerouac mentioned Slim Gaillard in On The Road, so I looked him up. He’s mesmerizing:
Jack and Rita
Excerpted from On The Road by Jack Kerouac, ©1957: Then I went to meet Rita Bettencourt and took her back to the apartment. I got a her in my bedroom after a long talk in the dark of the front room. She was a nice little girl, simple and true, and tremendously frightened of sex. …
Good
“More harm is done under guise of goodness than ever realized by foul deed or evildoer. Nevertheless, I wish I was good.” ~Herbert E. Huncke And that reminded me of this: “You made me forget myself. I thought I was someone else– someone good.” ~Lou Reed Full lyrics HERE.
So long, Lawrence.
One of my favorite poets, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, died a few days ago, just shy of his 102nd birthday. He was more than a poet to me, though, he was a connection. He was also a favorite of my late grandmother, Kathleen, and my current friend Mary. We could talk about him, discuss his words, share …
Engagingly Lost
“(Kurt) Cobain was very shy, very polite, and obviously enjoyed the fact that I wasn’t awestruck at meeting him. There was something about him, fragile and engagingly lost.” ~William S. Burroughs
Not Feeding It
Chicago Poem By Lew Welch I lived here nearly 5 years before I could meet the middle western day with anything approaching Dignity. It’s a place that lets you understand why the Bible is the way it is: Proud people cannot live here. The land’s too flat. Ugly sullen and big it pounds men down …
A Particular Form of Insight
Excerpted from Variations On A Generation by Gregory Corso, ©1959: –But what do you think about the Beat Generation?– –A certain style, when you look back on it, old photos, Fitzgerald in Paris, 1920, high society, prohibition, jazz; that’s more what characterized a generation than what they believed in. The fundamental facts are always the …
Dash
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died By Emily Dickinson I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air – Between the Heaves of Storm – The Eyes around – had wrung them dry – And Breaths were gathering firm …
Everyone Will Understand
“I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down.” ~Jack Keouac (source)
Cosmic
“I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations.” ~Allen Ginsberg
Keeping The Issues Alive
We were so many, We were working as one, We were miles of moiling wheat In a sizzling summer’s heat. But now we are scattered and flung far apart, But you and I still live as one Through coals in the heart. And if anything is left of the coal in the soul, Oh, flash …
“I’m tired of waiting for Godot.” ~Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in Junkman’s Obligato ©1958
Coca-Colonization
Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s travel journals read, not surprisingly, very much like his poetry. This excerpt from Writing Across the Landscape (© 2015) records his thoughts attending a poetry conference at the Universidad de Concepción in Chili, in the early part of 1960: The impression I have is that a great fat omnivorous crab named United States …
A Beautiful Place
I came across a trove of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s books at the used book store. I have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy Beat Poetry. (Ferlinghetti denies he is a Beat, but at the very least there’s a kinship.) Anyway, I guess that’s where I am at the moment.
Whatever It Was
Let’s go Come on Let’s go Empty our pockets And disappear. Missing all our appointments And turning up unshaven Years later Old cigarette papers stuck to our pants leaves in our hair. Let us not worry about the payments anymore. Let them come and take it away whatever it was we were paying for. And …
Why Come Back?
“Every time I meet William Burroughs, I feel I’m in the presence of a feisty corpse. As a living person he seems rather bored. I asked him if he would go to the moon. ‘Of course,’ he replied. ‘I’d go anywhere. I’d leave the solar system if they came to get me in a flying …
A New Significance
In this excerpt from a letter to Scott, Zelda Fitzgerald describes her mental illness in words that sound very much like Beat Poetry: In Paris, before I realized that I was sick, there was a new significance to everything: stations and streets and facades of buildings– colors were infinite, part of the air, and not …
*sigh*
Tom the Dancing Bug is on the web HERE.
Abbie's Tree House 