So, Gregory's form for this kind of thing is to take a one-word concept , like Death, Marriage, Bomb, Army,Hair, and then, figure all the funny lines possible, or, touch on all the conceptions that you can think of relating to hair - there's bald people, there's people with long hair, there's pony-tails, there's frizzy hair, there's red hair, there's dyed hair, there's no hair, there's baby hair, there's hair that's dead, there's hair in the graves, there's hair on the barber-shop floor, there's hair in the sky. So that's a little poem about hair. I mean, whatever comes to mind, all the different hair.
…it involves some kind of presentation of an idea or a fact or a thing, or - a think, a think that goes between one ear and the other, a think that occurs to you. And we might do this in the form of a chain poem. So what would be a good subject? Has anybody got a good suggestion for a good big serious subject that will evoke torrents of imagery?
Student: Sex.
AG: Well, but what kind of sex? - Sex - Sex? - Okay. Sex is not enough… Let us say, Affection. Affection, (which could mean anything from sex to good feeling), that's the basic, that'll be behind it, let us say. But lets choose a key word. relating to sex, or affection, or love, or good feeling, heart feeling, that would evoke.. that we could all handle with that (you know, some people don't want to go directly into sex and some people want to go right in).
Okay, what's a key word that we can say that we can begin it with?
Student: Wine
AG: Pardon me?
Student: Wine
AG: Wine-tender? Tender wine? - Tender wine. I like tender wine. So let's begin. Everybody begin their line with Tender wine - W-I-N-E.
Student: The wine of the grape?
AG: Yes, the wine of the grape. So it's got to be at the beginning of the sentence, like "Tender wine is my foot bath", or "I like tender wine when I go to the drugstore and buy aspirins", or something, whatever, or, I don't know. So, "tender wine" is built into the.. The title of the poem is "Tender Wine", right? - "Tender"and "Wine". And so, what we should do is, each one, get up and make a line, make up a line, using "tender wine" in it. I was suggesting in the beginning, but, you can put it anywhere in the line. So that's the rules of our game, children. Okay, so we have this big baby game with "tender wine"
Student: "Tender wine filling a slipper in a yacht, throwing it over the side".
AG: Tender wine filling a slipper in a yacht, throwing it over the side.
Student: "Tender wine. Every time I drink with my friends I get gushy and love them".
AG: Tender wine. Every time I drink with my friends I get gushy and love them.
Student: "I want to swim forever in Tender wine".
AG: I want to swim forever in Tender wine. No, anything written down you may not use. Get up onto your feet and make it up out of your head. That's the rules!… It's alright, if you get up and you don't know what to say - that's good. Blank your mind first, and then the first thought that comes after the blank mind, see. So, if you get up and you can't think of what to say, you've got your advantage already! You make use of that, you make use of it, see, because then the thought springs unborn
Student: "Tender wine goes nice in the soft night with my thoughts".
AG: Tender wine goes nice in the soft night with my thoughts.
Student: "Tender wine bloated my stomach last night".
AG: Tender wine bloated my stomach last night.
Student: "Tender wine, give me a drink, o baby, o baby, o baby".
AG: Tender wine, give me a drink, o baby, o baby, o baby".
AG: Finish more, a little bit more..a little more onto the line, add a little bit more on, just a little, add a few more words - Tender wine, I drink so much of you, that..?
Student: "Tender wine, I drink so much of you, that the place you sleep I floated".
AG: "the place you sleep I floated".
Student: "Tender wine falling from the clear blue sky and washing my dirty feet".
AG: Tender wine falling from the clear blue sky and washing my dirty feet.
Student: "Tender wine, so hard on Kerouac. My god, it makes me sick the next day".
AG: Tender wine, so hard on Kerouac. My god, it makes me sick the next day.
Student: "Tender wine, I fell in your eyes, Dionysus."
AG: Tender wine, I fell in your eyes, Dionysus.
Student: "Tender wine flows through my body an makes it tingle".
AG: Tender wine flows through my body an makes it tingle.
Student: "I waste my time on tender wine".
AG: I waste my time on tender wine.
Student: "I think I need some tender wine to help me pass my breakfast".
AG: I think I need some tender wine to help me pass my breakfast.
Student: "My words are soaked and sour with tender wine".
AG: My words are soaked and sour with tender wine.
Student: "A great chortle of friendship along with tender wine".
AG: A great chortle of friendship along with tender wine.
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Student: "Tender wine is the time I spend with those I love".
AG: Tender wine is the time I spend with those I love - Get some dis-harmony in it -" tender wine is the time I spent with.. the dogs in the gutter", or something…
Student: "Tender wine that you drunk with me last night stained my lips".
AG: Tender wine that you drunk with me last night stayed on my lips.
Student: Stained my lips
AG: Stayed my lips?
Student: Stained
AG: Stained my lips!
Student: Tender wine makes me sweat profusely
AG: Right. Tender wine makes me sweat profusely
Student: Because I'm here, I don't drink tender wine
AG: Because I'm here, I don't drink tender wine
Student: I wandered through the cemetery with tender wine giving them to ghosts on either side.
AG: I wandered through the cemetery with tender wine giving them to ghosts?
Student: ..on either side
AG: "on either side". Very good, o ghost!
Student: I have no mind about tender wine
AG: I have no mind about tender wine
Student: All alone but for tender wine and red eyes
AG: All alone but for tender wine and red eyes
Student: Tender wine, please
AG: Tender wine, please?
AG: If it was all juiced on top and..?
Student 2: I don't remember it.
AG: I know, it would run down your small nipples to your balls..can somebody remember it? - "If it was all juiced on tender wine…"
Student: ...running into the showers...
AG: "running into the showers"
Student 2: it would be falling down my ears…
AG: "It would be falling from my ears down to the.."
Student 3: Belly-button
AG: "...to the mole beneath your nipple." We got it! - retrieved your tender wine, sir!
Student: Tender wine buried my mind like a rotted spine
AG: Tender wine buried my mind like a ?
Student: Rotted spine
AG: ."..like a rotted spine"? in thrall to rhyme! - You don't have to begin with "tender wine", you know.
Student: My two-year-old's whining - tender wine
AG: My two-year-old's whining - tender wine
Tender wine id a caress to the throat's center
Student: Tender wine stuffed up my sinuses could blow out my brain.
AG: Tender wine stuffed up my sinuses cuold block my brain?
Student: "blow out"
AG: "could blow out my brain"? - Tender wine stuffed up my sinuses could blow out my brain
Student: Tender wine served in two crystal glasses, one for me and one for you.
AG: Tender wine served into.. served in two crystal glasses, one for me and one for you -
Say something outrageous about tender wine. You don't have to be so sensible!
Student: Tender wine is good fun, but if you meet any of the old prophets, it's good if you've brought your own car
Student: Tender wine is good fun, but if you meet any of the old prophets, it's good if you've brought your own…?
Student: Car
AG: Car - C-A-R? - right - that's alright. Now we're getting to the heart of the matter. More and more outrageous now. Let's build it up in the imagination. What about them Tender Wine Saturns and…
AG: Tender wine warms my blood and makes me want to do nothing other than bay at the moon
Student: Tender wine-colored postage-stamps sends off my masturbation
AG: Tender wine-colored postage-stamps sends off my masturbation masterpiece
Student: Tender wine gives tender hearts tender mind
AG: Tender wine gives tender hearts tender wine?
Student: Tender mind
AG: Tender mind.
Student: Cold moon guzzles broken teeth soothes tender wine
AG: Cold moon guzzles broken teeth soothes tender wine
AG: When I drink too much tender wine then I become a weirdo and I start talking about people's ears.
Student: Tender wine, tender wine, I drink great sacramental blood of the ninety-proof Thunderbird
AG: Tender wine, tender you wine you drink…?"
Student: The great sacramental blood of the ninety-proof Thunderbird.
AG: The great sacaramental of the ninety-proof Thunderbird?
Student: Long live Charles Bukowski!
AG: Long live Charles Bukowski? Well, don't drink yourself to death, muscle boy!
AG: Hmm, Surrealism - "Your tender wine opens beehives in my heart".
Student: "Pour tender wine into the hole in my head and feed the hawk".
AG: "Pour tender wine into the hole in my head and feed the hawk".
Student: "Bathe me in tender wine, you soft gushy grapes".
AG: Bathe me in tender wine of?
Student: "You soft…"
AG: Oh, "Bathe me in tender wine, you soft gushy grapes" - Gushy?
Student:Tender wine - truth and time
AG: Tender wine truth? at time?
Student: Tender wine - truth and time
AG: Truth and time? - See..say it again, say it loud, proclaim it!
Student: Tender wine - truth and time
AG: Okay but one more time. Get up there. Straighten your back. Literally, straighten your back, straight up and down, put your hands to your sides, take your hands out of your pocket, please, sir - now proclaim
Student: Tender wine - truth and time
AG: And one more time, pronouncing the "and" very clearly.
Student: Tender wine - truth and time
AG: Right. Much better to hear.
Student: "Last night, tender wine and hair in my mouth. This morning on my shirt hang over like twelve swedes.
AG: Hmm - Last night, tender wine and hair on my shirt..
Student; No, in my mouth, not on my shirt.
AG: Right, Last night, tender wine and hair in my mouth?
Student: This morning on my shirt hang-over like twelve swedes.
AG: This morning on my shirt hang-over like twelve swedes. Hmm, that's a good one - " tender wine and hair in my mouth
AG: I couldn't hear
Student; And you have cast your spell on me, tender wine, and I'm doomed forever (It refers to alcoholism)
AG: And you have cast your spell on me, tender wine, and I'm doomed forever - to alcoholism.
Student 2: To become an alcoholic
AG: Become an alcoholic. Yes..
Student: After a toke on a spliff, tender wine, right out of the bottle runs down...
AG: After a toke on a spliff, tender wine, right out of the bottle runs down…
Student: No, spills out my mouth, runs down your chest making a pool of your navel
AG: Tender wine runs down my chest making a pool of your navel - and?
Student: And a river between your thighs
AG: And a river between your thighs ("Spliff" is a nice word in there)
Student: Tender wine every gallon demands another
AG: Tender wine every gallon demands another
Student: I suck, I'm too fast!
AG: "I suck, I'm too fast", is that what you said?
Student: Envelopes filled with tender wine stuff my futon give me sweet dreams tonight
AG: Envelopes filled with tender wine stuff my futon, comma, give me sweet dreams tonight - "Stuffed" or "stuff"?
Student: Stuff
AG: Present tense, okay
Student: Tender wine turns the wheel, the wheel, the wheel, O what have they done to the grapes?
AG: Tender wine turns the wheel, the wheel, the wheel, O what have they done to the grapes?
Student: Even tender wine can't compete with beer cheer
AG: Even tender wine can't compete with beer cheer
Student (2): Wanna bet?
AG: Blow my mind with tender wine
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Student:" I basted my brain in tender wine and brushed off my breast like the ash of my recreated eyes".
AG: Brushed off my brain with tender wine...?
Student: "I basted my brain in tender wine and brushed off my breast like the ash of my recreated eyes".
AG: "brushed off my breast like the ash of my recreated eyes" - that's a good mouthful - Next? Sir? Who's next?
AG: Hey Peter, what's your tender wine line before you leave?Peter Orlovsky.. One line at a.. what?.. It has to be a line with "tender wine" in it
PO: Tender wine is very good and very sweet and very round
AG: And round? Come on, give us a better line than that. Another line?
PO: (I gave you all that..)
AG: Have you been drinking tender wine?
PO: Not today, No.
AG: Toodle-oo - Next.
Student: My goldfish don't think tender wine and candles are romantic, get them out of my aquarium
AG: My goldfish don't think tender wine and candles are romantic, get them out of my aquarium
Student: Tender wine isn't when you piss it
AG: Tender wine isn't when you piss it - Louis Zukofsky wrote poems like that, that is, very intteresting little sounds - "Tender wine isn't when you piss it" - It's like "with hey with hey, the thrush and the jay"- or, William Carlos Williamshas a poem that ends, "I shall do my pees (the doctor, you know, taking care of pee and blood tests). "I shall do my pees instead", hmm, "Peggy has a little (bit of ) albumen/ in hers" - "Peggy has a little (bit of ) albumen/ in hers"..
Student (to Allen!): You must speak more clearly! Enunciate your consonants!
AG: "Peggy has a little (bit of ) albumen/ in hers" - " "I shall do my pees" - "Peggy has a little (bit of ) albumen/ in hers"
Student: "Tender wine , lick my Rockerbelly home."
AG: Tender wine , lick my Rockerbelly home? - Right
Student: "Tender wine.."
AG: No, get up, up.
Student: "Tender wine/ savage head/ beer for breakfast".
AG: Savage?
Student: Head
AG: "Tender wine/ savage head/ beer for breakfast".
Student: "Don't put tender wine in milk bottles",
AG: Don't put tender wine in milk bottles.
Student (2): Why not?
Student: "Tender wine, rice wine, sake, and first drunk delicately from porcelain cups, an hour later guzzled from green Shimane bottles now thunder wine".
AG: Well, let's see if I can remember that one- " Tender wine.. something sake what?..tender wine.."
Student: "Tender wine, rice wine…"
AG: "Rice wine, sake. At first drunk delicately from porcelain cups…"
Student: "an hour later, guzzled from green Shimane bottles, tender wine now thunder wine".
AG: "an hour later, guzzled from green Shimane? bottles - guzzled from what?
Student: Shimane - sake was first made in Shimane.
AG: So...guzzled from green Shimane bottles?
Student: "now thunder wine"…
AG:Next..
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Student: "Thunderbird ain't tender wine",
AG: "Thunderbird ain't tender wine" - Da-da da da da-da da - next..
Student; "With enough tender wine you don't need the hard stuff".
AG: With enough tender wine you don't need the hard stuff.
Student: That's a bit of a double-entendre!
Student: "Please bring me tender wine because it's half-time. That wine moves out of me in my sweat and makes me the wind".
AG: Okay, one more time, so I can repeat it properly.
Student: "Please bring me tender wine.."
AG: Please bring me tender wine
Student: "Because it's half-time.."
AG: Because it's half-time
Student: "That wine moves out of me in my sweat.."
AG: That wine moves out of me in my sweat
Student: "And makes me the wind."
AG: And makes me the wind?
Student: "Sometimes tender wine makes all the difference in the world".
AG: Sometimes tender wine makes all the difference in the world".
Student: "Tender wine soaks my mind clear of ancient horror"
AG: Tender wine soaks my mind clear of ancient horror.
Student: "Like pearls before swine, me and tender wine"
AG: Like pearls before swine, me and tender wine!
Student: "The railroad man says it was tender wine. Now I only walk through splintered morning streets".
AG: The railroad man says it was tender wine. Now I only walk through splintered morning streets
Student: "Give me another sip of tender wine, Father, for Christ's sake!"
AG: Give me another sip of tender wine, Father, for Christ's sake!
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Student: "An open face and a broken mind, tender wine can have me on tenterhooks anytime".
AG: An open face and a broken mind, tender wine can have me on tenterhooks anytime -
AG: You can't stay here if you don't get up on your feet and pronounce your "tender wine", so please get up on your feet. You've shared our company, you have to share your mind, please.
Student: "Rachel's breasts are poisoned by tender wine".
AG: Grateful breasts are poisoned by tender wine? - Grateful's breasts are poisoned…" - Rachel's breasts are poisoned by tender wine.
Student: "Tender wine, foamy cells, seem to alert up the noise".
AG: "Tender wine - bovis cells seems.."?
Student: "Foamy cells seem to…"
AG: "..seem to alert up the noise. Is that "bovis" - the store? - bevos? - tender wine bevos cells? bovis cells? -What is bovis? or bevos? - Is that a store?
Student: No
AG: Then I didn't understand the word. "Tender wine…?"
Student: "Tender wine, foamy cells…:
AG: Bony cells?
Student: Foamy
AG: Foamy! - Foamy!
Student: "Foamy cells - seem to alert up the noise".
AG: "seem to alert up the noise". Okay
Student: I just walked in
AG: That's fine, You're here, come come..
Student: "Tender wine, you will not embarass me, Allen Ginsberg, on tender wine".
AG: Tender wine, you will not embarass me, Allen Ginsberg, on tender wine - You with the root-beer in your hand!
Well, is there anybody that didn't get any tender wine?
Student: I got one Allen
AG: Oh
Student: "Too much tender wine makes even Chogyam Trungpa sweet and sappy like a Second Avenue drunk".
AG: "Too much tender wine makes even Chogyam Trungpa sweet and sappy like a Second Avenue drunk". Well, that's pretty good
[Audio can be heard here, beginning at approximately forty-seven-and-a-quarter minutes in and concluding at approximately seventy-two-and-a-quarter minutes in]Student (to Allen!): You must speak more clearly! Enunciate your consonants!
AG: "Peggy has a little (bit of ) albumen/ in hers" - " "I shall do my pees" - "Peggy has a little (bit of ) albumen/ in hers"
Student: "Tender wine , lick my Rockerbelly home."
AG: Tender wine , lick my Rockerbelly home? - Right
Student: "Tender wine.."
AG: No, get up, up.
Student: "Tender wine/ savage head/ beer for breakfast".
AG: Savage?
Student: Head
AG: "Tender wine/ savage head/ beer for breakfast".
Student: "Don't put tender wine in milk bottles",
AG: Don't put tender wine in milk bottles.
Student (2): Why not?
Student: "Tender wine, rice wine, sake, and first drunk delicately from porcelain cups, an hour later guzzled from green Shimane bottles now thunder wine".
AG: Well, let's see if I can remember that one- " Tender wine.. something sake what?..tender wine.."
Student: "Tender wine, rice wine…"
AG: "Rice wine, sake. At first drunk delicately from porcelain cups…"
Student: "an hour later, guzzled from green Shimane bottles, tender wine now thunder wine".
AG: "an hour later, guzzled from green Shimane? bottles - guzzled from what?
Student: Shimane - sake was first made in Shimane.
AG: So...guzzled from green Shimane bottles?
Student: "now thunder wine"…
AG:Next..
Student: "Thunderbird ain't tender wine",
AG: "Thunderbird ain't tender wine" - Da-da da da da-da da - next..
Student; "With enough tender wine you don't need the hard stuff".
AG: With enough tender wine you don't need the hard stuff.
Student: That's a bit of a double-entendre!
Student: "Please bring me tender wine because it's half-time. That wine moves out of me in my sweat and makes me the wind".
AG: Okay, one more time, so I can repeat it properly.
Student: "Please bring me tender wine.."
AG: Please bring me tender wine
Student: "Because it's half-time.."
AG: Because it's half-time
Student: "That wine moves out of me in my sweat.."
AG: That wine moves out of me in my sweat
Student: "And makes me the wind."
AG: And makes me the wind?
Student: "Sometimes tender wine makes all the difference in the world".
AG: Sometimes tender wine makes all the difference in the world".
Student: "Tender wine soaks my mind clear of ancient horror"
AG: Tender wine soaks my mind clear of ancient horror.
Student: "Like pearls before swine, me and tender wine"
AG: Like pearls before swine, me and tender wine!
Student: "The railroad man says it was tender wine. Now I only walk through splintered morning streets".
AG: The railroad man says it was tender wine. Now I only walk through splintered morning streets
Student: "Give me another sip of tender wine, Father, for Christ's sake!"
AG: Give me another sip of tender wine, Father, for Christ's sake!
AG: An open face and a broken mind, tender wine can have me on tenterhooks anytime -
AG: You can't stay here if you don't get up on your feet and pronounce your "tender wine", so please get up on your feet. You've shared our company, you have to share your mind, please.
Student: "Rachel's breasts are poisoned by tender wine".
AG: Grateful breasts are poisoned by tender wine? - Grateful's breasts are poisoned…" - Rachel's breasts are poisoned by tender wine.
Student: "Tender wine, foamy cells, seem to alert up the noise".
AG: "Tender wine - bovis cells seems.."?
Student: "Foamy cells seem to…"
AG: "..seem to alert up the noise. Is that "bovis" - the store? - bevos? - tender wine bevos cells? bovis cells? -What is bovis? or bevos? - Is that a store?
Student: No
AG: Then I didn't understand the word. "Tender wine…?"
Student: "Tender wine, foamy cells…:
AG: Bony cells?
Student: Foamy
AG: Foamy! - Foamy!
Student: "Foamy cells - seem to alert up the noise".
AG: "seem to alert up the noise". Okay
Student: I just walked in
AG: That's fine, You're here, come come..
Student: "Tender wine, you will not embarass me, Allen Ginsberg, on tender wine".
AG: Tender wine, you will not embarass me, Allen Ginsberg, on tender wine - You with the root-beer in your hand!
Well, is there anybody that didn't get any tender wine?
Student: I got one Allen
AG: Oh
Student: "Too much tender wine makes even Chogyam Trungpa sweet and sappy like a Second Avenue drunk".
AG: "Too much tender wine makes even Chogyam Trungpa sweet and sappy like a Second Avenue drunk". Well, that's pretty good