Yesterday’s announcement of Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize still has us reeling. Better late than never, Allen’s letter to the Nobel Committee, from November 20, 1996 (sic):
“Dear Members of the Swedish Academy, For the Nobel Prize in Literature I propose Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is a American Bard & minstrel of XX Century, whose words have influenced many generations throughout the world. He deserves a Nobel Prize in recognition of his mighty & universal poetic powers”
Sincerely, Allen Ginsberg, Poet, Member of American Academy of Arts … Read More
October 7, 1849 – the death of Edgar Allan Poe. More Allen-Ginsberg-on-Poe postings here, here and here
October 2017 marks the Centennial of the English poet David Gascoyne. Enitharmon, his English publisher, have taken the occasion to reprint a 1986 letter/memoir/note he wrote to Allen – See here
October in the Railroad Earth – October is Kerouac month… (every month is Kerouac month! – but this month (this weekend) in Lowell, Massachusetts, it’s the annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac). Full details about the weekend’s activities – here… Read More
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AG: I wanted to find out… Let’s see.. I took over the space just as Philip Whalen was going to discourse on the languages that he spoke – and read… I butted in. I was interested in hearing.. ((I want to) switch again, just a moment)..because, I was conscious (that), when I began my sentence about (reading) (Federico Garcia) Lorca, [editor’s note, he means Rilke] that I was answering first. [Allen turns … Read More
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Philip Whalen: Senryu is the comical and obscene and..
AG: vulgar?
Philip Whalen: ..vulgar, that type of thing. Also, there’s a..
AG: A two-volume history of haiku Philip Whalen: Yes, a two-volume history. Then there’s another book that’s called Oriental (Wit and) Humor [Oriental Humor], which is also..(a book of) senryu, and other jokes and song, and… (A)
AG: Another current aspect of communal poetics that I also wanted to touch on … is an American form, which began in improvisation, basically, I’m told, an iambic pentameter line. The rhyme scheme AAA, three rhymes in a row – so it’s a triplet, a three-line verse. Usually, the first line and the second line are repeated. The origin was in, probably, unaccompanied solo, or solo with very simple instrument(s), (it’s a musical form). Does anybody recognize the form I’m talking about?
Student: The Blues
AG: Yeah. American Blues. I’ve been studying Blues for some time now, and, not being … Read More
Whitman’s birthday today! (for Whitman-birthday celebration on The Allen Ginsberg Project see here and here)
and Allen’s birthday beckons! (Monday June 3rd)
Howl Festival celebrations open tonight in New York, (inaugurated, as usual, with the regular“group-reading” of “Howl”, co-ordinated by poet-impresario Bob Holman (Bob Rosenthal and Eliot Katz, among those taking part in the event) – and there’ll be readings and performances taking place around the park (Tompkins Square Park) all day Saturday (more details here)
and Splab’s … Read More
The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860–1989 at the New York City Guggenheim Museum curated by Alexandra Munroe came to a close last week. There’s still a decent online presentation that includes Gary Snyder reading poems of Philip Whalen, Ezra Pound and Jack Kerouac as well as some of his own work, “Endless Streams and Mountains,” “Riprap and Cold Mountains,” and “Mu ch’i’s Persimmons,” all selected by Snyder to accompany the exhibition. [update 2017 – unfortunately, this material is no longer available]… Read More