Amnesiac Thirst For Fame

John Lennon signing autograph for Chapman hours before the murder. Photo: Paul Goresh

Amnesiac Thirst For Fame

An “autograph hound” armed

with a golden platter and a

gun kneeled before John and

killed the Beatles.

A stringy-haired artist

tiptoed thru St. Peter’s

and unsculpted

Michelangelo’s

polished marble elbow with a

hammer,

Christ defenseless lying in his

stone Mama’s arms

Staring out of the canvas

under their Feathered Hats

Rembrandt’s Night Watchers

were blind to the Slasher

that tore thru their coats with

a razor.

Did someone steal Mona

Lisa’s smile forever from

the Louvre?

Originally published in Rolling Stone magazine, January, 1981, though written a month before, around the time of John Lennon‘s assassination, December 8, 1980, “Amnesiac Thirst For Fame” is one of the one-hundred-and-three poems now made available in Wait Till I’m Dead – UnCollected Poems by Allen Ginsberg  published by Grove-Atlantic.

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