Barry Farber Interview – 6 (continues)

April 22, 2018Simon Pettet

[ “You’re making some sort of Cold War problem when what I’m saying is that the problem is ecological”  (Allen Ginsberg to Barry Farber, 1976) –  Carl Solomon, Allen Ginsberg and John Tytell are shown here at Allen’s Cherry Valley Farm – photograph by Mellon Tytell]

The Allen Ginsberg-Barry Farber conversation continues.

BF: Allen, when you got out of that plane, being kicked out of Prague, you wrote (“Kral Majales”)… Did you know you were going to write a poem before you got to London? AG: No.. I always carry a notebook with me. Like, I’ve … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 359

March 30, 2018Simon Pettet

[Carl Solomon at home in the Bronx, 1991 – Photo: Allen Ginsberg, courtesy Stanford University Libraries]

Today, Friday March 30th. is Howl dedicatee, Carl Solomon‘s birthday. For last year’s Carl Solomon posting (“Remembering Carl Solomon”) – see here)

It’s also the anniversary of Rimbaud‘s lover, the poet, Paul Verlaine‘s birthday.  (For a posting on Verlaine’s “Chanson d’Automne” – see here)

And, while we’re on the subject of anniversaries – Our dear friend Bob Creeley died on this date thirteen years ago. Much missed, thinking of you, Bob.

David S Will’s Beatdom continues to deliver challenging A.G. … Read More

Remembering Carl Solomon

March 30, 2017Simon Pettet

[Carl Solomon (1928-1993) – Photograph by Allen Ginsberg]

DREAM OF CARL SOLOMON

I meet Carl Solomon.                                                                                                                        “What’s it like in the afterworld?”

“It’s just like in the mental hospital.                                                                                                    You get along if you follow the rules.”

“What are the  rules?”

“The first rule is: Remember you’re dead.                                                                                         The second rule is: Act like you’re dead.”

 – circa 1996 from Wait Till I’m Dead: Uncollected Poems Grove Press / Penguin UK 2016

Carl Solomon would have been 89 years old today

Previous Carl Solomon postings on The Allen Ginsberg Project  here, here and  here, (and a Carl Solomon … Read More

Studs Terkel Radio Interview – Part 6

September 15, 2016admin

[Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin) Liao Dynasty (907-1125), 11th Century  (willow with traces of pigment,  woodblock construction), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]

Studs Terkel’s 1959 interview with Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and a taciturn Peter Orlovsky (courtesy PennSound) continues
ST: So in other words you believe in compassion ? (or) you’re afraid of that word too?
GC: Compassion is a beautiful word.
AG: I’m in favor of compassion in other people.
GC: That’s compassion for Gregory.
ST: But you feel you are not..  Now are you putting.. Is this a façade?
AG: I … Read More

Studs Terkel 1959 Radio Interview – Part 5

September 14, 2016admin
Studs Terkel‘s 1959 radio interview transcript (courtesy PennSound)  continues. See previous transcripts here, here, here and here

ST:  While the discussion goes on in the background. I was trying to whisper to the audience that I think there’s a seriousness and semi-seriousness, but we’ll see if you can sort of discern the chaff from the wheat.

AG:  No, I’ll talk over him (Gregory Corso)., I’ll talk over him. Now, the end of the poem [“Howl”] – which is where – “I’m with you in Rockland”, (which is a bug-house). I’m saying, “I sympathize, I … Read More

Spontaneous Poetics – 96 (Artaud-2)

July 3, 2013Simon Pettet

[Antonin Artaud – Self Portrait, 24 June, 1947]

AG: I think (that Artaud had) some influence on Samuel Beckett actually, and an enormous influence, in the (19)40’s, on American poetry, in Black Mountain, and on myself, immediately, about 1948, in a mental hospital with Carl Solomon. Carl had a copy in French of this poem [“Here Lies” (Ci-gît)] and introduced (to me), that “Dakantal/dakis tekel/ ta redaba/ ta redabel/ de stra muntils/ o ept anis/ o ept atra..” and it was, like, a very exquisite menacing mantra, penetrating through the babble of the language of the bughouse. Yeah?… Read More