I was fortunate to see Allen Ginsberg twice, possibly three times but I was young and do not remember for sure the putative first time; he may have been at my college during a Vietnam demonstration, 1969 or 1970. The last time he did a signing after, and I had a couple of books which he autographed. One was As Ever, correspondence between him and Jack Kerouac. It was a loaner from a friend and I was able to return it to him (after 11 years, mind you) with Allen’s autograph. When he saw that, he said “An oldie!” The other was my copy of Howl. His notes started with AH. I asked what it meant. He said, “Ahhhh.”
I was fortunate to see Allen Ginsberg twice, possibly three times but I was young and do not remember for sure the putative first time; he may have been at my college during a Vietnam demonstration, 1969 or 1970. The last time he did a signing after, and I had a couple of books which he autographed. One was As Ever, correspondence between him and Jack Kerouac. It was a loaner from a friend and I was able to return it to him (after 11 years, mind you) with Allen’s autograph. When he saw that, he said “An oldie!” The other was my copy of Howl. His notes started with AH. I asked what it meant. He said, “Ahhhh.”