Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 340
November 3, 2017
Our good friend John Suiter’s photo-essay on Jack Kerouac’s Lowell  is a must-read. He recently complimented it with this equally-inspiring photo-essay on Jack Kerouac’s Mexico. Speaking of Kerouac, MA*GA  in Gallarate, Italy,  presents Kerouac Beat Painting, a show of over eighty original paintings and drawings, running December 3 April 22,   more details […]
Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 339
October 27, 2017
Never did get around to mentioning Kiyohide Hori’s photo-show of Allen and of the Howl manuscript that took place (sadly now it’s down) in Japan this past summer More Japanese news… “the Allen Ginsberg-inspired capsule”? – Some fervid debate in the “Comments” section here – “This[…]
Buddhism and The Beats (Ginsberg 1993 – I – Introduction)
July 15, 2017
A real treat this weekend – with gratitude to Robyn Brentano and students from the NYU Ethnographic Film Program – “Buddhism and the Beats.”. “In 1993, Allen Ginsberg spoke to a gathering of students of the Tibetan Buddhist monk, Lobsang Samten, about the impact of Buddhist thought and practice on himself, the[…]
Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 312
April 21, 2017
Great news! – Omnivore Recordings, and Pat Thomas, (who gave us last year the extraordinary The Last Word on First Blues), are issuing, as a two-CD package, Allen Ginsberg’s The Complete Songs Of Innocence And Experience,  is both a reissue of Allen’s original Blake release from 1969 on MGM, with the unreleased[…]
Gary Snyder 1983 Naropa Reading – 1
December 12, 2015
Gary Snyder‘s reading at the Naropa Institute, on the occasion of the 1983 publication of his collection Axe Handles is this weekend’s feature.    The transcription of the reading will appear in two sections.    The reading begins with an introduction by Allen Ginsberg     AG: (This will be) the first reading by Gary Snyder[…]
Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 242
October 30, 2015
      Just out this month, from Blackberry Books, Franco Beltrametti’s posthumous collection, From Almost Everywhere  Gary Snyder on Franco Beltrametti: “Franco Beltrametti’s smooth-barked Muse leads him across the grids of latitude and longitude to the source of good medicine poems. A suavity masks these elemental songs – or rather, gives[…]
Kenneth Koch Q and A continued
October 18, 2015
Kenneth Koch Q & A from 1979 continues KK:  Maybe we should have some more questions. What would you like me to tell you about? Student: What do you at Columbia? KK: I teach three courses there. I’m a regular Professor. I[…]
Trungpa Visits Allen’s Class – 1
July 15, 2015
AG: Welcome..to the poetry class.. – does it make sense (you sitting), here?   – and there’s room for David (Rome) , there. Welcome to my poetry class. This is Bobby Myers, my teaching assistant – and this [Allen[…]
Meditation and Poetics – 99 – Haiku 12 (Allen Ginsberg Haiku Class)
May 28, 2015
遠山が目玉にうつるとんぼ哉tôyama ga medama ni utsuru tombo kanaReflected In the eye of the dragonflyThe distant hills(Issa) Student: Allen?AG: YesStudent: ((The compound) eye of a dragonfly, (comprises) a thousand  facets,  you can’t (actually) get a reflection from it (as a singularity))AG: All dragonfly’s eyes are thousand-faceted?  Well, I don’t know what we’re going to do with that.[…]
Meditation and Poetics – 98 – Haiku – 11 (Haiku and The Gap of Space)
May 27, 2015
AG: (Haiku) …and the gap of spaceBillowing clouds –An antclimbs on to the ink stone(The ink stone where he’s mixing his ink to make the painting of the billowing clouds) – “Billowing clouds -/An ant/climbs onto the ink stone”.A cow is lowingin the cowshedunder the hazy moon(That’s very similar to that (one earlier)… (tape[…]