Classroom

It was back in 1982 We had a guest in our theology and lit class Ten years older than me He’d come of age in the Sixties Allen Ginsberg had recently been in town Our…

On Ginsberg’s HOWL

It was a cri de coeur, an alarm, a vision. Its structure matched its energy which seemed the voices of many, not one. It was a rhizomic collage, just like life, a pastiche of the…

Writing to Wake Up

1. Natalie Goldberg: I also place on the altar a photo of Allen Ginsberg in a yellow wood frame, sitting in a white shirt, cross-legged, his face captured in an uncanny smile. He is our…

On Bhakti Yoga

1. Allen Ginsberg: Well, the Hindus say that this is the Kali Age or Kali Yuga or Kali Cycle, and we are all so sunk in matter, the five senses are matter, sense, that they…

Please Bodhisattva

For All Allen Ginsbergs Everywhere Oh Bodhisattva I’m a slacker Ach Bodhisattva My mind sometimes is so many-pointed Dear Bodhisattva I’ve grown weary of always having an angle Woe is me Bodhisattva My middle name…

On Diane di Prima (Again)

for Lindsey Trout Danielle Mackey Katie Madges Katie Consamus Magan Wiles New Yorkers all   As some of you know, I have recently taken to the writing of Diane di Prima. You know this because…

The Typewriter Is Holy

Later this summer at Cafe Ventana, I’ll be facilitating a reading group of the new book, The Essential Ginsberg.  I was just rereading Bill Morgan’s history,  The Typewriter is Holy: The Complete, Uncensored History of the Beat…

Library Pick-me-up

After an invigorating brainstorming visit with Courtney Barrett at Kayak’s I headed home down Lindell then remembered I had books to pick up Allen Ginsberg’s Buddhist Poetics and Twayne’s revised edition of Allen Ginsberg Waiting…