"Howl" is one of Allen Ginsberg's most famous poems. You may have heard the opening lines of part I in one form or another:
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,Ages ago I found that someone was sharing a recording of part I via my university network. Turns out this is a fairly famous recording, one of the earliest of Ginsberg reading "Howl". In fact, for awhile, it was considered the earliest known recording of said poem.
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night
But recently a literary researcher uncovered a recording that was older still, "at the library of a private college here [in Oregon]". Which private college in Oregon, you ask? What else?
Reed College.
You can listen to the new oldest recording along with poems from the same reading here.
4 comments:
On March 26, 1979, it was springtime in Washington DC and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I had stayed up all night with his Mom, who had a long hard time bringing Dave forth into the world.
But it was done now, and the boy was out in the world, alive, and I was happy. I walked outside the hospital to get some air, the pink blossoms in tree-surrounding halos everywhere, and suddenly, perhaps because I had memorized it the previous week, began reciting aloud:
"I saw the best minds of my generation...starving hysterical naked...Negro streets at dawn...angry fix...AngelHeaded Hipsters...starry dynamo...machinery of night."
This doesn't have anything to do with David, but you know, it does, too. Because surprisingly, David turned out to be ... someone who cares about poetry in great depth, and writes serious poetry, as if it mattered more than anything, which it does.
Isn't that interesting?
I don't think I could have imagined a better compliment. Makes me smile to think of you reciting Ginsberg in the DC spring. And it makes me grin to know that you feel so strongly (and positively) about my poems. :-D Thank you.
that's crazy i studied that poem for my masters... i love that poem!
nush
It's a fantastic one, isn't it? So much fun to recite! I also love Ginsburg's poem "America", which builds very nicely into a great swelling indictment of some of the crappy stuff in the US at the time he was writing.
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