Questions for Allen G.
You Howled in the fifties
Kaddished in the sixties
Sang your Plutonian Ode in the seventies
Told us what you were not in the eighties
And pushed us all to eat more grease in the nineties
You died the year I graduated from high school
And I hadn’t even heard of you
Why did you grow your long mad beard? Was it to
Give the appearance of a modern mad prophet who
Put his mad thoughts into unconventional verse?
Or was it to conceal your being gay? No, that doesn’t
Sound like you. You were always comfortable in
Your own skin. It seemed like another layer of clothing to you.
What did you mean by “reality sandwiches”? Was it reality
Unadorned, unadulterated, with no sweetening
From outside forces or people?
What does it mean to look for an angry fix?
Does “angelheaded hipsters” have anything to do with Kerouac’s
Meaning of the Beat Generation, that is, beatific?
I can understand your frequent comparison to Whitman. Both of
You clawed at the walls of the society in which you lived in the hopes
That the whole edifice would come crashing down.
I don’t think any one word can explain a man’s life, like Howl or
Kaddish or Sunflower Sutra. But your words left an impact that
Can’t be measured by any traditional standards.
Allen Ginsberg I wonder when your words will cease to move one’s soul.
poem by Jesse Dachyshyn
Added by Poetry Lover
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