Allen Ginsberg

[Pedro Alonso Lopez]

http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/writings/poems/agh.htm

Amazing beatnik poet. Read it aloud and fast to get the jazz effect.

[Dirty Commie]

I love his song "Capital Air".

Almost all of his poetry is great. But some of it, like most poetry, sucks.

Land O' Lakes Wisconson:

Buddha Died
And left behind
a big emptiness

hilarious

[che's long lost daughter]

I'd give one of my kidneys to be able to write poetry like that. Damn you Allen Ginsberg, come back to life, marry me and make a slave out of me!!!

The poem is very much similar to Zack dela Rocha's Memory of the Dead.


Behold, Zack's genius...

Memory of the dead

wealthy vampires
with the cold hands of executioners
execute
executive decisions
determined to destroy
what 1 million women, children, and men
1910
died, drowning in the rage of battle.
mothers, half naked
infants clutching their necks
running frantically
tripping over the bodies of their sons
teeth nashing
swinging machete
spitting blood and mud, and screaming:
land, and liberty!
were erased.
buried and burned
along with the memory of the dead
along with the ejido
with the smooth stroke of a pen
and with the ghost of Nixon present in their eyes
they smiled.
and pronounced the omnipotence
of the free market
the prophets of profit
extending the scurge of columbus and pizarro
the freedom to buy things you can never afford
the freedom for indians to buy corn that once
flourished overgrown in their backyards
the freedom to die of curable disease
the freedom to watch their children's stomachs
swell and burst
the freedom to starve and die
without land
or liberty
but Ramona, with eyes of Obsidian
peering to her blood and sweat drenched
mask
darding, unseen
changing direction with the swiftness of a bird
through the shanties of the canyon
with every coyote, every insect, every phylum of
life
urging her, propelling her forward.
the leaves and branches of the forest
part for miles, clearing her path
the voices and screams of the dead beneath her
feet
echo in the deepest chasm of her soul
hurling her, toward the city
history surging through her veins
pulsing through her fingers
hurling her, towards the city
she caresses her trigger
and the words of Magon fulfill her being
and with each shot she fires, she affirms her movement
saying:
enough! enough!
no!
I will see my own blood flow
before you take my land...or my liberty!

[Lefty]

Ginsberg is a god. "Howl" is one of my favorite poems. It is the verbal equivalent of the very best sort of jazz music. By the way, where can I get more of Zach De La Rocha's poetry?

[Louis Pio]

Yes Allen Ginsberg is great.
I like the album he made with Chronos Quatet (Or how it's spelled) were they play and he recite some of his poems, including Howl.

[che's long lost daughter]

Originally posted by [email protected] 10 2004, 04:56 AM
Ginsberg is a god. "Howl" is one of my favorite poems. It is the verbal equivalent of the very best sort of jazz music. By the way, where can I get more of Zach De La Rocha's poetry?
I do not know where you can find other Zack poems. All I could remember is that I found that one while searching for RATM lyrics.

[Lefty]

Thanks anyway. I certainly enjoy that poem, and I found another of his poems on some website whose name I can't remember. It was on the war in Iraq, and was quite powerful. I really like his imagery.

[che's long lost daughter]

Originally posted by [email protected] 10 2004, 08:18 PM
Thanks anyway. I certainly enjoy that poem, and I found another of his poems on some website whose name I can't remember. It was on the war in Iraq, and was quite powerful. I really like his imagery.
I would want to see a copy of that poem. Could you post it here?

[truthaddict11]

I'd give one of my kidneys to be able to write poetry like that. Damn you Allen Ginsberg, come back to life, marry me and make a slave out of me!!!

:lol: wasnt Ginsberg gay?

[Pedro Alonso Lopez]

He sure was ;)

[Lefty]

Along with the rest of the beat poets. Kerouac, Neal Cassady, William S. Burroughs...all at least bisexual.

[Wenty]

Everything I've read by and on Kerouac says he's straight.

Anyway, have you ever heard Ginsberg read his poem 'America'? Hilarious stuff.

You can read it here but on audio its much better if you can find it. http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/america.html

"America I used to be a communist when I was a kid and I'm not sorry"

Kerouac's 'American Haiku' on audio is also pretty cool. 'Prayer beads and holy book, my knees are cold'

[che's long lost daughter]

Originally posted by [email protected] 11 2004, 01:31 PM

I'd give one of my kidneys to be able to write poetry like that. Damn you Allen Ginsberg, come back to life, marry me and make a slave out of me!!!

:lol: wasnt Ginsberg gay?
I don't care. I like gay men anyways. ;)

[Wenty]

I think he was saying it as a matter of fact more than as an opportunity to prove how liberal you are.

[Lefty]

Kerouac, along with Neal Cassady and Ginsberg, occasionally had homosexual encounters, mostly with Cassady. I just read a book of his letters to and from one of his girlfriends, and she frequently made allusions to them and when she explained her letters she said in very straightforward terms that he was bisexual, although somewhat ashamed of it for whatever reason.

[che's long lost daughter]

Originally posted by [email protected] 18 2004, 01:22 PM
I think he was saying it as a matter of fact more than as an opportunity to prove how liberal you are.
I am not saying how libaral I am. I just like gay men and that's it.