Dated material: There will be a memorial reading for poet, Peter Orlovsky on Wednesday, September 22, (2010) 8pm. St. Mark’s Church. 10th St at 2nd Ave, NYC. The event is free.
Peter Orlovsky (July 8,1933-May 30, 2010) Poet, singer, farmer, yodeler, banjo-picker, Buddhist practitioner, Allen Ginsberg’s lifelong-companion, Kerouac’s Simon Darlovsky in Desolation Angels & George in The Dharma Bums, the generous & wonderfully whimsical Peter Orlovsky, was an unforgettable & hugely colorful presence in the East Village, and in and around the Poetry Project.
Please join us in a night of music, video, song and poetry, as some of his closest friends pay tribute to him including: Chuck Lief – Philip Glass – Ed Sanders – Steven Taylor – Hal Willner – Janine Pommy Vega – Andy Clausen – Patti Smith – Ambrose Bye – Miriam Sanders – Anne Waldman – Gordon Ball – Rosebud Pettet – Simon Pettet – Juanita Lieberman – Bill Morgan – Anselm Berrigan – Bob Rosenthal – Beverly Isis – John Godfrey – and others TBA
I didn’t attend. Didn’t want to attend. The very thought of Peter being dead was inconceivable. He is still bright and shiny in my memory ( where he has lived permanently these many years (decades?) later. People like Peter never die, they just live in one’s heart forever. I still smile and shake my head affectionately, remembering the “old days” every time I think of him.
The first time I saw him he was on his knees cleaning the kitchen floor with “Brillo” (who forgets that?).
He is NOT gone and will not be forgotten ( not while I walk this earth, and hopefully not after I’m dead either).
Many many memories and appreciations of Peter on the Allen Ginsberg Project – certainly not gone and certainly not forgotten. To take just two recent instances
– https://allenginsberg.org/2023/05/t-m-30-peter-orlovsky/
– https://allenginsberg.org/2021/07/t-j-8-peter-orlovsky/