National Poetry Month This Day of April 21, 2022
Today’s poem: Anne Waldman, Notes on Sitting Beside a Noble Corpse
Where would I be without Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg?
In my own Shimmelstoy way, I try to be like them—share the wealth, launch missives galore, brainstorm classes for amateurs [check the etymology], spin out rants, nurture the dear love of comrades and adhesiveness, instigate the possible, defend reading as part and parcel of any revolution worth belonging to, absorb the Dharma in my small b “buddhist” way, honor beloveds in ways obvious and obscure, remember the dead, bury excuses and rationalizations, take the liberty of self-citation: “So what follows is a series of snapshots, a collage that could go on and on, a commonplace book in miniature, a contrapuntal brouhaha of friends and antagonists, and a kaleidoscope of heartbreak and resolve” [Dear Layla], yes, I’d rather celebrate National Poetry Month’s 30 days with one particular poetry-lover than tweet 10,000 poetic allusions into the cold, vast internet void.
