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.

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Song Of A Rhyming Man

I love the sound of rhyming words like Dan will rhyme with Ann
And I could never be a poet just call me rhyming man
This modern verse too much for me it's way above my head
Though modern poets are now the rage and Rhyme is with the dead.

I love the sound of rhyming words, I love the verse that rhyme
To blank or free or non rhyme verse prefer it every time
And there's many who will disagree and most will say I'm wrong
But give me ballad or rhyme verse or good old rhyming song.

You may say I am limited and with you most will agree
That I'm not into modern verse of twenty first century
But I've been an old style rhyming man since nineteen seventy three
And I am in my sixties now and there's no changing me.

I love the sound of rhyming words like Dan will rhyme with Ann
And I could never be a poet just call me rhyming man
And I am guilty of no sin and I can't see no crime
In liking sound of rhyming verse and loving words that rhyme

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Words

So many words are there in our speech,
they can be very poor, they can be rich.
No one can be indifferent to their meaning
as they are alive and express your feeling.
Spoken word is not just a sound,
it can’t be found on the ground,
it’s always in your head, sometimes in your soul.
When it is spoken it becomes a parole.
A word is an energy of your spirit,
it was presented to you by God, it’s His merit.
A word is a tool of communication,
A word is a source of information.
“A word spoken is past recalling”.
Strolling all around it can’t be found,
returned back and kept in your sack.
“The pen is mightier than the sword”,
that was told about a written word.
Words, words, words………………
They are love and seduction,
each one with a certain function.
They are wonders of sin
and songs of education.
They are salvation, temptation, affectation…
They can be an executioner,
they can be the owner of a whiner.
A word can be a treatment,
It helps when you are ill.
A kind word is better than a pill.
But…there are words that just kill.
They sound like a horrible drill.
Words, words, words…………
They are triumph and defeat,
They can be pleasant and sweet.
At the end of my message
I would like everyone to acknowledge:
Each word has a strength
and it doesn’t depend on its length.
So, think before saying a word,
as it is quite well heard even by walls,
it touches someone’s soul,
it shouldn’t be a wicked foul.
“Better the foot to slip than the tongue”.
And… there is no exception for the young.

Larisa R (Odessa, Ukraine)

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I'm doing research for a large comic book on the Beat Generation guys - Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac and those guys.

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Beat Generation Reborn

“On the Road”, “Naked Lunch”, “Howl”
Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs
In a hostile society they went afoul
Yet a nation's psyche they did furrow

Their words against oppression still live
Tyranny rampant then, still so today
A new wave of poets offer alternative
They strive to teach 'n show the way

It’s said;

“The more things change,
The more they stay the same”
True words that may sound strange
To a few who try to shift blame

Beat the drum of freedom Bards
Be fearless, move in a swift motion
Know that World needs Vanguards
Across all lands 'n ocean to ocean

I pray you not falter 'n stumble
Maintain balance and your goals
Ever thoughtful, peaceful, humble
Till redeemed all wayward souls

Write on!

Lay not down your eager pens
Oh, mighty legion of brave poets
Of fine women 'n robust men

ROTMS

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You Are Asking Now For A Metaphor To Understand

i heard you when you said you find it hard to understand
my scribblings on the sand
words seem not to be related to the next word
illogical
not having a connection between their close distances

how can you connect a star to an ant
or an electric eel to a ladle
the sea to a cooking pot
something too far and something too near
the universe to a grain of sand
the wilted sunflower
to the screw of this motorcycle,

make the link, that is a challenge and you complain
i am just confusing you
there is no meaning to all these bickerings of thoughts and
anti-thoughts, you tell me

but let me ask you my friend,
how do you relate to God?

is He the same as You,
far and near
thoughts to anti-thoughts
matter to non-matter
flesh to spirit

you want a word always to correspond to an object
at first
there is no problem here but go beyond what the word
should be
or what a word must be to non-objects

you need the help somewhere
you are asking now for a metaphor

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When I heard that trees grow a new 'ring' for each year they live, I thought, we humans are kind of like that we grow a new layer of skin each year, and after many years we are thick and unwieldy from all of our skin layers.

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Grease

Frankie valli - grease theme song
I solve my problems and I see the light
We got a lovin thing, we gotta feed it right
There aint no danger we can go to far
We start believing now that we can be what we are
Grease is the word
They think our love is just a growing pain
Why dont they understand, its just a crying shame
Their lips are lying only real is real
We stop the fight right now, we got to be what feel
Grease is the word
Its got groove its got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling
We take the pressure and we throw away
Conventionalitly belongs to yesterday
There is a chance that we can make it so far
We start believing now but we can be who we are
Grease is the word
Its got groove its got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling
This is the life of illusion
Wrapped up in trouble, laced with confusion
What are we doing here?
We take the pressure and we throw away
Conventionality belongs to yesterday
There is a chance that we can make it so far
We start believing now that we can be who we are
Grease is the word
Its got groove its got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling
Grease is the word
Its got groove its got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling
Grease is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word

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Angel On My Shoulder

There's an angel on my shoulder,
asking me whats wrong?
and as i speak the words to her
she starts to sing a song

This song she sings is powerfull
yet its the saddest song you'll hear.
She sings a song of pain and love,
even the angel has a tear.

She sang of how she found true love,
and how she let it go.
she sang of how she pushed aside
the only love she'd know

she sang of how she pushed him away
to find another love thats true
she sang of how she looked at him
as he spoke the words 'thats you'

She never faulted in her words
as she sang and as she cried
for as she sang she told me
of how her true love died

She said he died of a broken heart
that only she could mend
her true love died because of her
his true love and friend

as the angel sang her final words
she looked at me and said
Kolee this is not my song
but your true loves instead

There's an angel on my shoulder
asking me whats wrong
asking me to love you,
and to never hear your song.

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Grease

I saw my problems and Ill see the light
We got a lovin thing, we gotta feed it right
There aint no danger we can go too far
We start believin now that we can be who we are - grease is the word
They think our love is just a growin pain
Why dont they understand? its just a cryin shame
Their lips are lyin, only real is real
We stop the fight right now, we got to be what we feel - grease is the word
Chorus:
(grease is the word, is the word that you heard)
Its got a groove, its got a meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling
We take the pressure, and we throw away conventionality, belongs to yesterday
There is a chance that we can make it so far
We start believin now that we can be who we are - grease is the word
Chorus
This is a life of illusion, a life of control
Mixed with confusion - whatre we doin here?
We take the pressure, and we throw away conventionality, belongs to yesterday
There is a chance that we can make it so far
We start believin now that we can be who we are - grease is the word
Chorus repeats 2x
(grease is the word, is the word, is the word...)

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Walt Whitman

Scented Herbage Of My Breast

SCENTED herbage of my breast,
Leaves from you I yield, I write, to be perused best afterwards,
Tomb-leaves, body-leaves, growing up above me, above death,
Perennial roots, tall leaves--O the winter shall not freeze you,
delicate leaves,
Every year shall you bloom again--out from where you retired, you
shall emerge again;
O I do not know whether many, passing by, will discover you, or
inhale your faint odor--but I believe a few will;
O slender leaves! O blossoms of my blood! I permit you to tell, in
your own way, of the heart that is under you;
O burning and throbbing--surely all will one day be accomplish'd;
O I do not know what you mean, there underneath yourselves--you are
not happiness,
You are often more bitter than I can bear--you burn and sting me, 10
Yet you are very beautiful to me, you faint-tinged roots--you make me
think of Death,
Death is beautiful from you--(what indeed is finally beautiful,
except Death and Love?)
--O I think it is not for life I am chanting here my chant of
lovers--I think it must be for Death,
For how calm, how solemn it grows, to ascend to the atmosphere of
lovers,
Death or life I am then indifferent--my Soul declines to prefer,
I am not sure but the high Soul of lovers welcomes death most;
Indeed, O Death, I think now these leaves mean precisely the same as
you mean;
Grow up taller, sweet leaves, that I may see! grow up out of my
breast!
Spring away from the conceal'd heart there!
Do not fold yourself so in your pink-tinged roots, timid leaves! 20
Do not remain down there so ashamed, herbage of my breast!
Come, I am determin'd to unbare this broad breast of mine--I have
long enough stifled and choked:
--Emblematic and capricious blade, I leave you--now you serve me not;
Away! I will say what I have to say, by itself,
I will escape from the sham that was proposed to me,
I will sound myself and comrades only--I will never again utter a
call, only their call,
I will raise, with it, immortal reverberations through The States,
I will give an example to lovers, to take permanent shape and will
through The States;
Through me shall the words be said to make death exhilarating;
Give me your tone therefore, O Death, that I may accord with it, 30
Give me yourself--for I see that you belong to me now above all, and
are folded inseparably together--you Love and Death are;
Nor will I allow you to balk me any more with what I was calling
life,
For now it is convey'd to me that you are the purports essential,
That you hide in these shifting forms of life, for reasons--and that
they are mainly for you,
That you, beyond them, come forth, to remain, the real reality,
That behind the mask of materials you patiently wait, no matter how
long,
That you will one day, perhaps, take control of all,
That you will perhaps dissipate this entire show of appearance,
That may-be you are what it is all for--but it does not last so very
long;
But you will last very long. 40

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Kaddish

For salvation, Kaddish,
For redemption, Kaddish,
For forgiveness, Kaddish,
For health, Kaddish,
For all the wars victims, Kaddish,
For all the holocaust victims, Kaddish
-M'YITEN SHAMA'I KERI'OH
HAMAH GURAH V'HAMAYM KA LI RETOH
HA SAMOVIM RACHU'AH
HAMAH HAREH 'AL KAH TERU'AH-
Why do I cry at night?
Why do I feel so bad?
Something holds me tight
It's something in the air.
I have a prayer, a prayer,
A prayer from my heart
Night after night after daylight,
Memories of home...
BA HA YAKHON UV YA MEKHON - KADDISH
AL YISRAEL TAL MI DE HONE - KADDISH
AL NA HOMO AL SHEZOVO - KADDISH
AL RAFUHO UGE'ULO - KADDISH
AL SALIHO WA CHAPORO - KADDISH
AL HASOLO AL HASOLO - KADDISH
AL NAHOMO - KADDISH
AL RAFUHO - KADDISH
AL SALIHO - KADDISH
WA CHAPORO AL HASOLO AL HASOLO - KADDISH
OH KADDISH DE RABANON
OH KADDISH DA AMIRAN
BO'OLAMO DIVORO - KADDISH
HUYIT GADAL WEYIT KADASH - KADDISH
AL NAHOMO AL SHEZOVO - KADDISH
AL RAFUHO UGE'ULO - KADDISH
BA HAYEKHON UV YA'MEKHON - KADDISH
AL YISRAEL TAL MI DEHON - KADDISH
AL SHALOMO - KADDISH
MIN SHAMAYO - KADDISH
YE HELANO - KADDISH
WA CHAPORO - KADDISH
AL HASOLO - KADDISH

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I think it was when I ran into Kerouac and Burroughs - when I was 17 - that I realized I was talking through an empty skull... I wasn't thinking my own thoughts or saying my own thoughts.

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I’ll Learn One Day What They Know

I ran into Tammy Alderman today.
She asked me, “Do you know
Jerry West died last month of a heart attack? ”
I told her, “No, I didn’t know.”
She then asked, “Do you know
Paul Graff died a year ago
With a brain tumor? ”
I said, “No way! Not Paul!
He was a complete sweetheart,
I knew him from kindergarten!
I’ll think about him now
For the rest of the night! ”

From my teens on,
I’ve gazed at death
With lustful eyes,
But my grade school
And high school pals
Have perished instead!

Like Allen Ginsberg wrote
In a poem from the1970’s,
“I never learned to die.”

From the Master’s poem: Ode to Failure

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Words

Yeats so simply stated
' Words alone are certain good. '
And to the great poet
So highly rated
I try to listen, as I should; Yet
Being an untrained novice
Such as me
With verdant hopes of much improvement
- oh that I would -
I beg to slightly differ with W. B.
And offer here my humble opinion
- if I could -
Good certainly is not words alone,
For without humanity
To read and to write
How would they ever become known?
- For without the good of people
Who of these words would care
Ever to be heard, or even shared?
No, the good does not alone from words arise,
Rather from human beings
Whose entire story
Such words do attempt to comprise.......
- Words written in this time
May even the way
To a distant future find,
But not on their own
And never alone.
For it takes people's
- hand's to write
- eye's to read
- heart and soul to understand
The purpose, and the need.
Let it here be shown
Words alone
Are not the only good,
They need human beings
To give goodness and life
To their reason and meaning
For they are merely the vehicle
By which man's true good
Is found and understood.

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Words Again

Thoughts can be words, can be flowers that burgeon like words,
Thunders that are right in the middle of happiness,
Ones that make talk with books and with all speaking sense.

The sounds are not anywhere near us,
Yet the word can believe in living free,
Where actions cannot, and nor can thoughts necessarily.

We work on the words of leaders like listening is,
When speech is hazardous and non-wrong,
And liars can speak offensively, like a long long wrong.

Speech is therefore recommended in the form of words,
Of dementia I give word not or word obvious,
But of sound advice for any goodness to come and seize.

Deceased are the word-lovers as much as fences are put up,
As if the sea is given a status that delves too deep
Of words, and it is funny how many words that there are.

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A Former Rose Of Port Fairy

She was a former Rose of Port Fairy where the white waves of Pacific roll
But the years have left their mark upon her the years on us all do take toll
Though for one in her mid to late fifties she certainly does look okay
With anti ageing cream she hides time wrinkles and with brown dye she covers her gray
With primary school going grandsons and granddaughters her biological clock ticking away
Back in the late sixties to the mid seventies I heard one who knew her then say
That she was Port Fairy's finest though since then many a yesterday
And beauty of youth does not last long and prime beauty with one does not stay
In her fifties a two time divorcee she may give marriage one more try
The old saying of the third time lucky in her case who knows might apply
Love in her life once more has blossomed the joy of love is a marvellous thing
Her new love she met in October in the prime of Victoria's Spring
A former Rose of Port Fairy with brown dye she covers her gray
But time does take care of all beauty and time it keeps ticking away.

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Howl Allen Ginsberg

Howl Allen Ginsberg with Nebuchadnezzar’s
Prideful Madness-Lycanthropic
For this generation’s minds lie bleeding and ravished
in the streets of the libertine-philosophic

Your angel-headed hipsters of darkness marshalling
the hollow-eyed masses to their graves.
Israfel softly sings his damnable odes in the classroom
and o’er the air-waves.

Two hundred million saxes wail false laments
like the butchered-truths of the painter Francis Bacon
But when one prays at the altar of Damien Hirst
(or de Payens) just Who and what has been forsaken?

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Your Three Words

you write about
three words, and i predict
them from the
beginning,
i look at how your
name spells
letters arranged
so easy to remember
and you hint
about the three words
that i also know....

i know you mean
i love you..

cute, tickle me, like
high school sweethearts
you like it
giggling words
i love you

but grow a little
bit, grow the length of my arms
and muscles on my thighs
grow the nails
in my fingers
some dirt in there
some stains
in my hands

grow some more
yes, have white hairs
and wrinkled forehead
and trembling hands

and some sad stories
as you go along
some griefs
that you cannot contain
move on
with such words as
i quit
i am fed up

move on, grow, let time eat you
bloat in silence
store everything
inside your chest
and hit it with your
fists

do not cry
toughen your jaws
have a rope ready
loosen it a bit
for a while
on the benefit of a
doubt
something that
is reasonable

now, think deep
thoughts
and inhale more air

then exhale
tell me, what are those three words
in your throat?

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Move On

Hey, Shake It, Shake It, Shake It
There's A Monkey On My Back
Been There Much Too Long
Every Time I Kick It Off
Another One Comes Along
I Used To Be In Another World
I Used To Be Alone
It's So Hard To Be Yourself
When You Feel Like Something's Wrong
(chorus)
There Are No Words That Could Explain
You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
There Are No Words That Could Explain
Oh You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
She Said, "I've Had Enough Of Your Lies
Can't Wait For Anyone
The Beginning Of The End
Don't You Know That's All Wrong
When You Said Nothing Changes
You Meant To Say It Won't Take Long"
I Used To Be In Another World
I Used To Be Alone
It's So Hard To Be Yourself
When You Feel Like Something's Wrong
Move On
There Are No Words That Could Explain
You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
There Are No Words That Could Explain
I Said Move, You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
There Are No Words That Could Explain
You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
There Are No Words That Could Explain
Oh You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
Move It
Move On
There's A Question In My Head
Been There All Night Long
Well I Toss And Turn Inside My Head
But I Won't Let It Tear Me Down
Yeah, Used To Be In Another World
I Used To Be Alone, Yeah
There Are No Words That Could Explain
The Strongest Love In Vain
Oh You Gotta Move On
There Are No Words That Could Explain
You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
There Are No Words That Could Explain
Oh You Gotta Move On
The Strongest Love In Vain
Had Enough, Oh, Gotta Move On, Yeah
There Are No Words That Could Explain
The Strongest Love In Vain
(Repeat And Fade With Ad Lib)
Submitted by Michael Hack

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Words spoken

Words are spoken from the depth of the soul
Sometimes these words can be so cold
Like rotten cheese turning to mold
They come from a soul that we have sold
Sometimes we sound really bold
When kind words are never told
With nothing good to say
To make someone`s day
All we do is speak words that scold
So much so our soul grows old
Speaking from emotions uncontrolled
Breaking someone`s heart
That was once made of gold
So as we grow old
May you be foretold
Don`t leave a kind word untold
For a word is spoken from the depth of our soul

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