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Meditation and Poetics - 55 - (Sunyata)
[A 19th century Tibetan mandala, in the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art, New York] [Japanese Zen Enso Symbol][The Messier 80 global cluster in the constellation Scorpius, located about 35 light...
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Meditation and Poetics - 56 - (Clear Seeing)
AG: (But) to begin with, you’ve got to begin somewhere, so that’s why you begin with the breath - or (William Carlos) Williams might begin with the Red Wheelbarrow, or, in his old age (a very...
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Meditation and Poetics - 43 (Reznikoff 13)
[Charles Reznikoff, aged 81, in New York City, 1975 - Photograph by Abraham Ravett] [St Marks Poetry Project, NYC, 1970 flyer-announcement for Charles Reznikoff reading - designed by George...
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William Burroughs' 101 (July 1985 reading at Naropa)
William S Burroughs at 101 - All of the focus on the Centennial last year, but the time has come around again. February 5 - It's William Burroughs' birthday.To celebrate we're running this audio - an...
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Meditation and Poetics - 57 (Some Mahayana Ground)
[Prajnaparamitra Sutra (Heart Sutra) via Shunryu Suzuki] AG: Okay, the Bodhisattva Vows and the PrajnaparamitaSutra or statement are the basis for ZenBuddhism, which is Mahayana, and Tibetan Buddhism,...
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Théâtre de Poche - (AG on Stage Nudity)
Roger Domani founded the politically engaged Théâtre de Poche in Brussels (Belgium) in 1951. Allen was on hand in 1976 for the 25-year celebration. The Théâtre de Poche had famously produced a stage...
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Friday's Weekly Round-Up - 211
Legendary film-maker Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre, Dune etc), recalls his meeting with Allen Ginsberg (he speaks in Spanish with Italian translation) - An English...
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Jack Kerouac - The Northport Tapes
Audio of Jack Kerouac is priceless and so we're very happy to feature this weekend (courtesy of Counter Culture Chronicles and the remarkable Ubu Web) - "The Northport Tapes". As Ubu Web notes:"Counter...
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Meditation and Poetics - 58 - (Whitman 1)
AG: So to Walt Whitman - “When I Read The Book” – so this is some statement of his opening.. (I’m reading from Whitman now, from the Modern Library (edition) of Leaves of Grass, page (twenty) eight –...
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Meditation and Poetics - 59 (Whitman 2)
[Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and William Wordsworth (1770-1850)]AG: So (to) get right into “Song of Myself”, and I’ll do as much of it as we can (in an hour) So he [Walt Whitman] begins - as we had in...
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Meditation and Poetics - 60 (Whitman - 3)
[Walt Whitman ( 1819-1892)]AG: So how many here have been listening to (Chogyam) Trungpa’s lectures? How many go? He’s just entered into the Mahayana discourse (and his last lecture was on the...
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Jack Kerouac's Birthday
[Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) - Jack Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1958 - Photograph via L.A.Times]March 12 - It's Jack Kerouac's birthday today. 93 years since his birth in Lowell,...
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Friday's Weekly Round-Up - 212
Recently surfaced, Allen Ginsberg and the Clash - Ghetto Defendant - an extended version which originally appeared on the bootleg "Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg"[Allen Ginsberg with Mick Jones, and...
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Carl Solomon and Jack Micheline
Carl Solomon and Jack Micheline this weekend on the Allen Ginsberg blog. The occasion is the 1982 Jack Kerouac Conference at NaropaThese two Beat luminaries were among many notable figures gathered in...
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Meditation and Poetics - 61 (Whitman - 4)
[Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle circa 1869 - Photograph by M.P.Rice, Washington DC - via Ohio Wesleyan University, Bayley Collection]Student: Allen?AG: YeahStudent: Why does he [Walt Whitman]…in the...
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Meditation and Poetics (Whitman - 5)
AG: But still, you see, he (Walt Whitman)’s saying.. this has nothing to do with men or women, (it's) beyond that. See? It’s a question of “Is he proclaiming a universal soul, (with himself as Person),...
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Meditation and Poetics (Whitman - 6)
[Walt Whitman (1819-1892) c.187o - Photograph by Frank Pearsall- via The Library of Congress]Actually his (Walt Whitman’s) contribution was, well, you could call it...
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Meditation and Poetics (Whitman - 7)
[Walt Whitman and Bill Duckett, 1886 - Photograph - Lorenzo F Fisler] Gregory Corso: Al, excuse me, how did the Russians take that book (Leaves of Grass). They don’t...
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Friday's Weekly Round-Up - 213
Elaine de Kooning's portraits show, opening last week at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, includes this striking one of Allen. He was always ambivalent about it, since it...
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Joyce Johnson, Jan Kerouac, Ray Bremser, Corso & Orlovsky at the Kerouac...
[Jan Kerouac in 1989 - Photograph by Allen Ginsberg] Last weekend, we featured Carl Solomon and Jack Micheline from the legendary 1982 Jack Kerouac Conference at Naropa, this...
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