Natalie Goldberg‘s “Talk When You Talk, Cry When You Cry: Thoughts On My Teacher“ is old news (it was written in 2006) but, in that felicitous phrase of Ezra Pound’s, it’s “news that stays news”. “He’s been dead for nine years”, she writes (it’s fourteen now) “and I miss him..”..All over again I want to honor him..” Well, honor him we will/honor him we do. His 85th birthday is coming up. The Bob Holman-inspired “Ginsberg Turn On’s” have begun (an initiative we noted here earlier) – Sophia Holman dons glasses to read, flawlessly, Allen’s poem, “The End”, Hettie Jones, earlier in the week, kicked off the series. There will be regular Tuesday-night Ginsberg promotions at New York’s Bowery Poetry Club – and on the weekend of Allen’s birthday (June 3,4,5), in New York’s East Village, not unintentionally timed – the annual HOWL! Festival (the recently-launched HOWL! Festival blog can be accessed here).
Meanwhile, as an adjunct to this, CA Conrad continues to build up his video side-show – Jupiter 88 – Allen Ginsberg Edition. David Wolach, Frank Sherlock, Trisha Low, Dorothea Lasky, Jason Zuzga, Julia Bloch and Sarah Dowling, are the most recent contributors. Stay tuned for more.