the library of congress recently released a list of 88 books that shaped america. and "howl" was one listed on it and thus i was inspired to check it out.
after reading "on the road", i decided i would have been a beat in a previous life. though i would have to be a male in that previous life cos there really wasn't a place for women among the beats, they were either sex objects or beards, plus i wouldn't want to miss out on all of the gay sex that happen between the beats. the nomadic-ness, the drugs, the rejection of post ww II conservatism and social standards, sounds glamourous but there was a dark and dirty side too but was worth the suffering.
before i start, i am not one for poetry so did not have too deep of thoughts about this so this post is not an analytical one. i loved the imagery and realized that i need to study the beats more. i will admit i did consult wikipedia for a thorough reading because i did not get any of the references. and if you read it, i suggest you do too. (ps if you want to read it, www.poets.org has it listed.)
part 1 is a look at chaos that is the beats generation, a praise of the "angelheaded hipsters" that lived as they wanted regardless of the consequences suffered. it was dirty and dangerous but also exhilarating.
the poem reads as what i what i could imagine (or would have loved) my twenties would have been if i did more drugs. it is filled with random incidents of jazzing, sexing, wandering, protesting, questioning, experimenting and living.
my favorite incident/story from the poem was:
"who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull"
which wikipedia explained to me as:
"Part of the reason Ginsberg was suspended in his sophomore year from Columbia University was because he wrote obscenities in his dirty dorm window. He suspected the cleaning woman of being an anti-Semite because she never cleaned his window, and he expressed this feeling in explicit terms on his window, by writing "Fuck the Jews", and drawing a swastika. He also wrote a phrase on the window implying that the president of the university had no testicles."
i love that story because it captured the great spirit of ginsberg.
part 2, i can admit was over my head.
part 3 is about being institutionalized which sadly was the fate of many of the free-thinkers of the time. it's sad that your unconventionality or deviant sexual behavior could resulted in shock treatment. its also horrible to think how we treat and marginalized outsiders.
all in all, it did shape america and for someone not born of the generation also romanticized it. though i am unsure i have thick enough skin to be a beat.
other poems were also included with "howl". there was a great one about walt whitman being in a california supermarket. my favorite image was "wives in the avocados! babies in the tomatoes".
there was also one about greyhound. being a frequent rider of the greyhound this was a treat and a very accurate description of the greyhound. my favorite line was "an aluminum box of human blood for Stockton" because i have actually seen human blood be delivered via the greyhound. i was at the greyhound in bakersfield, when i saw a brown box labeled "human blood" be picked up by a houchin blood bank employee.
lastly i have to share my favorite quote which is from william carlos williams' introduction:
"hold back the edges of your gowns, ladies, we are going through hell."
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