The Beat Generation

Poemhunter.com, an online aggregator of searchable poetry, published a 176-page PDF of Bukowski’s work as part of their “Classic Poetry Series” in 2004, entitling it simply “poems”.

The people at Poemhunter say that, “Although Bukowski was never truly associated with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, or other major Beat writers, his informal style and non-conforming literary approach has endeared him to readers of the Beat genre.”

Here’s the PDF, which includes such favorites of mine as “Trachcan Lives”, “Poetry” and “Oh yes”.

Joseph Matheny sent me a link to this interview that he did with Diane di Prima in 1992. More of Joseph’s writing can be found at his website.

If you’re saying to yourself, “di Prima?” you are one of the main reasons I wrote this article. Even if you have heard of Diane’s work you have to admit, in a field that already has an amazing paucity of women, to overlook even one seems like a capital crime, especially this one. Diane di Prima is a San Francisco writer and poet who works in healing, Magick, and Alchemy.

I spoke to Diane on 9-22-92 in her cozy book lined SF apartment. We spoke of rebellion, liberty, conditioning, and on being a women in the beat generation.

Read it in its entirety here.

(Thanks, Joseph!)

Released as promotional material for the Lowell Spinners in 2003, this Jack Kerouac bobblehead, of which only 1,000 were made, now sits in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll on road to baseball hall of fame [The Boston Globe]

But in a good way. A few months back, I featured a great drawing from The American Dissident. G. Tod Slone aka P. Maudit, the creator, found that I had blogged about it and sent the following note along to me:

Bravo to you for being so open, so truly what Beatnik should be, in lieu of the titulary canonic inanity pumping up the myth. Thanks for publishing the toon!

G. Tod Slone, Founding Editor, 1998

To say thanks for his words of unabashed encouragement, I’m posting another one of his cartoons. Thanks for reading, G. Tod Slone.

From fuegero‘s blip.fm stream.

(Thanks, @kinolina!)

Allen Ginsberg – Poem Rocket [Blip.fm]