Comments | ink_ling: To Howl in the Yawp of Death

ink_ling

To Howl in the Yawp of Death

Jan 19, 2006 10:31

On the flight back from Portland, I was reading more of Michael Schmidt's Lives of the Poets. In the section on Charles Olson I found this passage, which made me snort out loud on the plane:

At his[Olson's]funeral in 1970 Allen Ginsberg was of course present, chanting his Kaddish and getting in the way; carelessly (is it legend or fact?) stepping ( Read more... )

poetry, shamelessness, reading

Comments 30

greensub64 January 19 2006, 16:41:05 UTC

Absolutely! I love that. Thanks for sharing.

ink_ling January 19 2006, 18:05:31 UTC

Of course! It pleases me. :)

slumberjack January 19 2006, 17:23:25 UTC

Heh. That's horrible, but funny, and very typically Ginsberg.

ink_ling January 19 2006, 18:08:23 UTC

I love Schmidt's saying Ginsberg was present "of course" and that he was "getting in the way". That's the way I felt most every time he showed up on a syllabus.

Then again, my frustration usually melts when I see that -- for example -- that he drew a picture of his own asshole in the middle of a collection of poems.

His shamelessness is his primary contribution to poetry, I think.

thornyc January 19 2006, 17:25:39 UTC

One of the few pieces of poetic trivia I know is that Frank O'Hara and Edward Gorey were roommates together at Harvard.

ink_ling January 19 2006, 18:09:58 UTC

Which might explain his dying by a surprise clip from a beach buggy. I can see that drawn Gorey-style. :)

thornyc January 19 2006, 18:28:22 UTC

( ... )

ink_ling January 19 2006, 19:25:20 UTC

I want to paper my apartment in these. I at least need to collect a few of the books.

Thanks for this visual of Frank's passing! Makes me think of his "Day Lady Died". :)

Thread 6

mehetabel January 19 2006, 17:29:47 UTC

Re: & i mean this as a complement ink_ling January 19 2006, 18:12:43 UTC

God, he's horrible. Well, as a public figure, he's something undeniably central. As a poet ... he leaves the taste of rayon in my mouth.

Re: & i mean this as a complement sunsmogseahorse January 19 2006, 18:34:26 UTC

That's a great metaphor. I remember putting a piece of ribbon in my mouth as a kid once and being shocked!

Re: & i mean this as a complement ink_ling January 19 2006, 19:27:56 UTC

What did you tongue as a child?! :)

As with Ginsberg, I imagined rayon would be predictable in its shocking taste, shocking in its everydayness.

Thread 9

bachelor_farmer January 19 2006, 18:28:05 UTC

I saw AG once as part of a reading of Mexico City Blues at the Knitting Factory. He didn't really need a mic.

ink_ling January 19 2006, 19:31:30 UTC

Hehe: He was a foghorn, eh? What'd you think otherwise?