‘if the wisest man would, at any time, utter his thoughts in the crude undigested manner as they come to him in his head, he would be looked upon as raving mad.’ - jonathan swift.
7th july 1987 ginsberg’s dad dies in his sleep - on the plane back ginsberg writes father death blues, the tune and the words come to him together. horsemouth notes the metaphysical turn in the lyrics ‘suffering was what was born’.
earlier ginsberg's guru trungpa had advised him to follow the path of murderer turned buddhist poet milarepa and just improvise spontaneously. (ginsberg attempts this with some success)
earlier still in venice he meets ezra pound; ‘at seventy I realised that instead of being a lunatic, I was a moron.’ pound upbraids himself for having succumbed to the ‘suburban’ prejudice of anti-semitism. curiously both pound and ginsberg had put a lot of effort into helping other poets - this, how art is to be supported, was one of his central concerns (as lewis hyde writes in the gift).
earlier still in the lunatic asylum ginsberg hears the intensity the mad can bring to their speech.
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friday horsemouth was defeated once again by the railway system (‘the fucking trains are fucking fucked’ he remarked to himself while kicking the station fence) - this is bad news for if it cannot be relied upon that whole quadrant of seaside towns cannot be lived in and commuted from (or perhaps horsemouth should abandon his unreasonable expectation that he should arrive at work on time) .
the day before it had worked - maybe it only works at rush hour (and then collapses with exhaustion), maybe it works most of the week (and then falls over).
ginsberg phones burroughs to discuss his problems, ’a problem, by definition, cannot be solved’, says burroughs (horsemouth has 'improved' the quote).
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