Patti Smith put it succinctly (regarding The Golden Dot):
“Place this book in your survival kit. Let Gregory, the youngest, most high-spirited of the Beat poets guide you through the hallowed days, as he did for my generation. He will steer you through the minefields of existence, poem by poem, drawn from his irreverent benevolent revolutionary heart”
His “irreverent benevolent revolutionary heart” is on full display throughout his work and also in the footage we spotlight here from his friend Dario Bellini‘ – video from Rome – Gregory Corso walktalks With Friends in 1989 and 2001
Bellini recalls the context of the film (in an interview from 2012 with Michael Limnios):
“Five days or a week by a self-made production in Roma, with talking views, decided of course in a bar, just because we liked filming and feeling ancient beauties with Gregory, who wanted to name the video “Harold a Roma” (after the) inspiring music of Hector Berlioz“
Bellini’s interview is a must-read (not the least because it includes a hitherto unpublished poem – (“a complete short poem about Roma, with the reasons why he was going back to the States, really not yet published I’m copying it here for you”)
ML: What is the “think” (that) you miss most from Gregory? Which memory from Corso makes you smile?
DB: His precise and discreet views with concise sentences and his eyes pointing the mood of happenings and people.
ML: What advice has Corso given to you? What kind of a guy was Gregory?
DB: Learn to appreciate beauty, quality and valuable people among (the) art and poetry of human being(s).
Salute Gregorio!
addenda – Dario Bellini has arranged an exciting program celebrating Gregory in Rome for the Fall 2023, “As a river not afraid to become the sea” (the title, of course, is taken from one of Gregory’s poems, the one that appears on his tombstone) – film-presentations, music, live readings and more! Festivities begin September 15 at Nuovo Cinema Aquila, and will run through to September 19. This will be in conjunction with the show, Gregory Corso Fotografo (Gregory Corso Photographer), at the Interzone Gallery (from September 15 to October 15). More details on all of this to follow
