Here’s Allen on one of his favorite Dylan songs, “Idiot Wind”
“Idiot Wind” practically epic – moving from perception to perception spontaneously…
…Yes, gaps between thoughts – Connected by time’s logic, events. And double rhymes begin + end lines – a form like Sappho or antique Alcaic , Anacreontic, lyric, divided by breath, emphatic upon breath. Breath is in fact the rhyme of the refrain – Teeth/Breathe (It’s like Buddhist Samatha – empty skulled mindfulness meditation, awareness of space around, entered by following the breath from empty inside and empty outside vastness). In any case, making the breath conscious. That’s the yoga of conscious song. And the gaiety of conscious breath, the free quirky moment of power when any breath, any word, is the breath word of magic power, confidence, magic sparkle of mind eye, potent Poethood uttering king chant mature. Quirky self, putting down the Enemy….
…O.K. to the meat message – He isn’t caged his heart’s enraged, everyone’s ideas of right + wrong loudmouth join the revolution Join the war are cancelled by the Wheel of Fate – gypsy destiny not under our control, or not under our spiteful control, egoiste control – “In fact the wheels have stopped” – Ambitious control’s failed – Corrupt ambition, you, or America are finally blind….
…and the final curse + analysis, a genius stroke of ecological vastness and tiny domestic paternal common sense – “It’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves!” – Right! Back to the farm, back to the earth, back to our own bodies, back to Work! Back to the cities to straighten out the mess, & disappear,
This country better not get into a war with Russia!
Idiot Wind!
(Allen Ginsberg, January 22, 1975)
The full text is included in Pat Thomas‘ recently-published must-read collection, Material Wealth (its title taken from remarks made by Dylan on Allen – “Seeing Ginsberg was like going to see the Oracle of Delphi. He didn’t care about material wealth or political power..”)
Prophetic Bob, prophetic Allen. Happy 83rd Birthday Bob!
all-day Bob (from midday to midnight) on WKCR – see here
“Bob Dylan Birthday Bashes” – see here for a (just a partial) list of the many Bob Dylan Birthday Tributes/Celebrations taking place
Dylan is serenaded on the front porch of his childhood home today on the fourth day of the Duluth Dylan Festival
In Greenwich Village, Cafe Wha, “(Musicians) will be paying tribute to the legend at the club where it all began for the young Robert Zimmerman back in 1961”:
“Just got here from the West,” the gangly 19-year-old told Manny Roth, owner of the Greenwich Village nightclub “Cafe Wha?” “Name’s Bob Dylan. I’d like to do a few songs? Can I?” – “Sure”, Mr. Roth said – On “hootenanny” nights, as he called them, anybody could sing a song or two, and this was a hootenanny night, a bitterly cold one, Jan. 24, 1961. And so Mr. Dylan took out his guitar and sang a handful of Woody Guthrie songs…”
That was over 60 years ago!
Thanks to our friend, Steve Silberman, for a reminder about this – Jeffrey Lewis‘ tongue-in-cheek Ginsberg-Batman hommage from a few years back – a spirited riff off of “Footnote to Howl”
– and, guess we ought to conclude with Allen himself reading it – (see here and here)
We focused last week on his poem “Siesta in Xbalba”. This week, another in-depth focus – Angkor Wat – (the recording, an early recording, of him reading it, back in 1969, is available, as part of a priceless collection of recordings available on-line, from the archives of Sir George Williams University (SGWU), now Concordia University, Montreal).
“These notations were taken during one night in Siem Reap, outside of Angkor Wat”, states the author on this historic occasion. Later, he would be more specific – “This composition was written in one night half-sleeping and waking…made somnolent by an injection of morphine-atrophine in a hotel room in the town of Siem Reap”.
See, for further notes our 2012 posting – here
It’s a remarkable poem.
Anne Waldman has a new book out, May 28 (Tuesday) – Tendrel – A Meeting of Minds
‘Tendrel – A Meeting of Minds”, her publishers write, “is an examination and recollection that ventures into the heart of a unique cultural and intellectual crossroads. Anne Waldman’s profound exploration of the fusion of poetics and Tibetan Buddhist wisdom, set against the backdrop of the compelling and provocative figures of Chögyam Trungpa and the celebrated writers of the Beat literary movement, shines a light on one of the most influential periods in American poetry. With the inclusion of never-before-published poetic works by Waldman, Tendrel offers a rare opportunity to delve into the soul of a generation, where the power and essence of spirituality, literature, and activism meet.”
Allen’s one-time Naropa student, Lesléa Newman, this week, in an interview, recalls:
“Allen Ginsberg told me writing is 33% inspiration, 33% respiration, and 33% perspiration. When I pointed out to him that only added up to 99% and asked, “Allen, what’s the missing 1%?” he answered, “Magic.”