As Jack Kerouac once said " I spent my entire youth writing slowly with revision and endless reshaping speculation and deleting and got so I was writing one sentence a day, the sentence had no feeling, Goddam it, feeling is what I like in art, not craftiness and the hiding of freedom."
Long has Jack Kerouac permeated my world, he has taught me a lot. This Beat icon, poet, writer and creator of spontaneous Bop prosity. He has helped shape me into the idealist I have become today. The eternal beatnik would have turned 93 today, his spirit lives today in my head and the road travels on and on.
His words like a gateway drug, that helped me search for horizons, ways to be free, leading me to discover the works of his friends, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Herbert Huncke etc etc . He was flawed but deep, far from perfect, " Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road "- Jack Kerouac; on the road . Thank you Jack, "The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are made to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirious of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous Roman Candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle you see the blue center - light pop and everything goes ahh..." - JK
Jack Kerouac - Jazz and prose
Jack Kerouac- American Hiaku-
Old Angel Moonlight (Friday afternoon in the universe)
Jack Kerouac reads from "On the Road"
Very good stuff Dave! It's always good to remember these old "glories" of my youth. And as Dave Urwin commented this prose and haiku are great with jazz music and sax. It made me a strange impression hearing something from "On the road" after so many years. In my 18's it had a great influence on me and I read it maybe 5 times! It's a book full of life but I admit I won't read it again now at 60! It seems so far and I don't share anymore all that vitality... Sometime you should dedicate something to Gary Snyder . Cheers Franca
ReplyDeleteThank you...... Long have the beats been an inspiration. Yes read too On the Road and his many books a multitude of times. Sometimes the road can be a metaphorical one, so I try to travel within. Posted a poem dedicated to Gary Snyder a while back, will try and find it.... all the very best.
ReplyDeleteI read all Kerouac's books translated in Italian and have "Desolation Angels" in English still awaiting to be read on a shelf (will do it soon or later!). You English speaking people have the advantage to have all that American literature available. Also African, Asian, Middle East and Russian writers are always and quickly translated in English, while we Italians, with our ancient poetical language must wait for ages...
ReplyDeleteYes we are most fortunate, I am lucky that over the years, I have shelfs dedicated to the beats. Not always easy to find, but years of searching have managed to track down the key texts. Have you ever heard of a magazine called Beat Scene, wonderful, if you ever get hold of a copy, all the best.
ReplyDeleteHeard of "Beat Scene" but never seen it here around. Maybe, who knows, in some specialized bookshop in Milano (there is a small American library in the city centre)...
ReplyDeleteYes it is truly a wonderful magazine, available I guess on subscription, difficult to get here in West Wales, am fortunate that a friend sends me a copy, from time to time.If yoo like the Beats their is much magic within it's covers.
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