Went down to the Beat Café
to throw around a mad scribble of words
to see if they would stick
to the walls.
Saw broken angels and hobos at the entrance,
waiting for a sign from some unseen god
dressed in rags,
saw a dharma bum playing a flute,
saw an Apache warrior dancing on the sidewalk,
heard all the hymns of Coney Island echoing off
half asleep lampposts.
Went inside, ordered a latte
and began staring at all the pictures hanging
like ghosts above the bookshelves.
There was Ferlinghetti in a straw hat
and Phil Whalen playing chess with Diane DiPrima
and over in the corner,
right next to an ancient cash register,
Kerouac, not yet drunk,
was holding his mother’s cat
and he looked as though his eyes had been devoured
by roll upon roll of teletype paper.
And there was Lamantia discussing surrealistic billboards with Anne Waldman
and as Ted Joans brought Bukowski
another keg of green beer,
Neil Cassidy kissed the café owner on the neck
and fondled her pleasantly startled breasts.
Gregory Corso,
with his wild mediterranean eyes,
passed around a flask of perfectly fermented Italian wine
and when Gary Synder dropped by
everyone fell to the floor in zen posture
and meditated on the essence
of trees.
Bob Dylan was dressed in his mercury mask,
sang a couple of lines from Desolation Row
while Michael McClure, looking like one
of Bodicelli’s angels, played the autoharp.
A drab faced Burroughs,
with a ripe red apple stuck between his teeth,
idly fingered a yellow newspaper looking for a line,
an image to cut and paste into his next
manuscript.
And there was Lew Welch and Lenore Kandel
naked at the bathroom door,
except for a pages of newly formed poetry
covering up the vital parts
just in case the cops showed up.
And when Allen Ginsberg
let out a holy howl of mercy
they all gathered on one small stage
to chant the Beatific Rhapsody
and I walked out of there
and knew that I had indeed visited
Literary Heaven.
Author notes
This was scribbled the other day as a fun exercise
A contest entry
- CELEBRATING POETRY AND POETS- ONE-DAY competition, "PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN" WORK ONLY by Vera Rich.
6000 points, ended November 26, 2008, 127 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 9 of 9
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Delightful
Wonderful. a true delight to read. flow perfect and the thoughts just carried the reader right into the cafe. Great Job.
*Go with God*, my friend,
Valerie
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If anything, this reminds me of the contemporary poetry of Richard Siken. The first image of the poem - throwing scribbled words onto the wall to see if they would stick (like spaghetti!) - grabbed my attention. After that, it was "ah-moment" after "ah-moment", recognising the names you pulled out of your hat. Lovely to see Bukowski there...
... and the dancing Apaches, the Dharma bums - all wonderful, captivating images.
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Thank you for entering my "Celebrating Poetry and poets" competition. This is certainly celebratory!
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You should scribble more! This is my kind of place. Loved particularly 'naked at the bathroom door, except for pages of newly formed poetry covering up the vital parts'
which made me think of poetry as something we make to hide our nakedness,
and that has started a whole new direction of thoughts.
Good!
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Yje whos who of the literary heirarchy penned here marc, Its good to break away now and then and delve into the off the cuff writing, i do that alot it seems these days. as always Bro. awesome stuff
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"Kerouac, not yet drunk,
was holding his mother’s cat
and he looked as though his eyes had been devoured
by roll upon roll of teletype paper..."
Outstanding! This is the poetry of
life. Bookmarking, love.
Lane xxoo
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Fun exercise and if there were such a place you could book me a table!
C
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Cheers!
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This Is Fantastic
This is great awsome, I did not realy know how many beat poets there were I think I am going to have to go out and start reading these poets, The images are like from a surreal dream or acid trip. Poetry like this inspiers me to look deeper into my dream world and my thought and try to come up with new mosaics of thought. Great,Great,bravo,bravo, more,more
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