Have you ever read any of Allen Ginsberg’s poetry about Vietnam?” Ferlinghetti asked.
“No, I haven’t.”
“In his poem Wichita Vortex Sutra he says:
McNamara made a “bad guess” chorused the reporters in 1962
“8000 American Troops handle the Situation” Bad Guess in 1954, 80% of the Vietnamese people would’ve voted for Ho Chi Minh
“And here I thought most of Ginsberg’s poetry was about sucking cocks,” I said, risking insulting his friend. He took it in stride.
“Oh no. He’s much more versatile than that. You should read more of him. Which reminds me. Since you’re from Springfield, Illinois, the hometown of Vachel Lindsay, you’d probably be interested in knowing that Allen considered …show more content…
“Tragically ironic, isn’t it,” I said in response to Ginsberg’s poem. “That he would choose to kill himself by downing such a lethal drink when he was such a devout prohibitionist.”
“Yes, isn’t it? That’s where Lindsay and the Beats differ dramatically. We tend to enjoy alcohol. Have you been to Vesuvio’s yet?”
“Yes, I was there Friday night.”
“Jack and Allen and I used to drink there a lot. In fact, they’ve got a special drink there called the Jack Kerouac. It’s a small bucket of rum, tequila and orange juice.
“We also drank at Li Po’s Cocktail Lounge in Chinatown. It’s named for the ancient Chinese poet who loved drinking rice wine while communing with nature.
“Do you write poetry?” Ferlinghetti asked.
“Some.”
“Then you should come to Vesuvio’s Saturday night for the open mic reading. I’ll be reciting a couple of mine. You’d be welcome to sit in.”
Meanwhile, intrigued by what Ferlinghetti said about Li Po getting high on wine and writing about nature, something I did in the woods around Springfield, I spent some time during the week at City Lights brushing up on the Chinese poet. It inspired me to compose a nature poem of my own for the reading at Vesuvio’s. It employed a falling autumn leaves metaphor to ask whether we followed divine plan or free will in our everyday …show more content…
“There are too many magical things happening in nature for there not to be divine influence!”
Ferlinghetti joined the argument.
“Does that magic include a man being born of an immaculate conception, and his resurrection after being crucified, when no one has ever come back to life on this planet? And if Christ was sacrificed and resurrected by God for the atonement of our sins, why is there still so much war, some of which is waged over religion – like the Crusades, and the wars in Northern Ireland and the Middle East?”
“Because, in answer to the question you ask in your poem, even though God has a divine plan for each of us to follow – the niched course drawn for tracing you refer to in your poem, he also grants man the free will, or the whim of the wind to determine for himself whether to engage in or refrain from violence,” the man said to me. “If only we would follow the teachings of Christ, which is the preference for peace, then there’d be no wars.”
In the end the debate ended in a stalemate, and “....the question of the greatest depth” went
“No, I haven’t.”
“In his poem Wichita Vortex Sutra he says:
McNamara made a “bad guess” chorused the reporters in 1962
“8000 American Troops handle the Situation” Bad Guess in 1954, 80% of the Vietnamese people would’ve voted for Ho Chi Minh
“And here I thought most of Ginsberg’s poetry was about sucking cocks,” I said, risking insulting his friend. He took it in stride.
“Oh no. He’s much more versatile than that. You should read more of him. Which reminds me. Since you’re from Springfield, Illinois, the hometown of Vachel Lindsay, you’d probably be interested in knowing that Allen considered …show more content…
“Tragically ironic, isn’t it,” I said in response to Ginsberg’s poem. “That he would choose to kill himself by downing such a lethal drink when he was such a devout prohibitionist.”
“Yes, isn’t it? That’s where Lindsay and the Beats differ dramatically. We tend to enjoy alcohol. Have you been to Vesuvio’s yet?”
“Yes, I was there Friday night.”
“Jack and Allen and I used to drink there a lot. In fact, they’ve got a special drink there called the Jack Kerouac. It’s a small bucket of rum, tequila and orange juice.
“We also drank at Li Po’s Cocktail Lounge in Chinatown. It’s named for the ancient Chinese poet who loved drinking rice wine while communing with nature.
“Do you write poetry?” Ferlinghetti asked.
“Some.”
“Then you should come to Vesuvio’s Saturday night for the open mic reading. I’ll be reciting a couple of mine. You’d be welcome to sit in.”
Meanwhile, intrigued by what Ferlinghetti said about Li Po getting high on wine and writing about nature, something I did in the woods around Springfield, I spent some time during the week at City Lights brushing up on the Chinese poet. It inspired me to compose a nature poem of my own for the reading at Vesuvio’s. It employed a falling autumn leaves metaphor to ask whether we followed divine plan or free will in our everyday …show more content…
“There are too many magical things happening in nature for there not to be divine influence!”
Ferlinghetti joined the argument.
“Does that magic include a man being born of an immaculate conception, and his resurrection after being crucified, when no one has ever come back to life on this planet? And if Christ was sacrificed and resurrected by God for the atonement of our sins, why is there still so much war, some of which is waged over religion – like the Crusades, and the wars in Northern Ireland and the Middle East?”
“Because, in answer to the question you ask in your poem, even though God has a divine plan for each of us to follow – the niched course drawn for tracing you refer to in your poem, he also grants man the free will, or the whim of the wind to determine for himself whether to engage in or refrain from violence,” the man said to me. “If only we would follow the teachings of Christ, which is the preference for peace, then there’d be no wars.”
In the end the debate ended in a stalemate, and “....the question of the greatest depth” went