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the
current
Monday
Report
below!
This week's report by Pat King, ULA
Columbia, FREE THE BEATS!
To the Columbia University Howl Tribute Organizers:
1. FREE THE BEATS!
Though some Beats, including Ginsberg, sold out in their lifetime to
corporate/academy interests, their writing should be for everyone.
$15.00 ticket prices excludes much of the poor from attending.
POETRY IS FOR EVERYONE!
You are holding the Beat Generation hostage for $15.00.
2. POETRY IS DEAD AND THE ACADEMY
HAS KILLED IT!!!
Do you really think people don’t read poetry anymore because of
TV, sports, talk radio or movies? Doesn’t it strike you as odd that, as
people who profess to love poetry, you drive people away from it
with BORING, STALE, POLITE poetry readings? I’ve seen corpses
with more energy and enthusiasm than many of the so-called
“poets” that have come through my small Southern college. Is it any
wonder that most of the other people at these things were other
ENGLISH MAJORS, most of which were there for the extra credit
points?
On the other hand, I’ve been to UNDERGROUND readings where
the GENERAL PUBLIC did come and had a great time. The DIVIDE
between audience and performer was almost non-existent.
In what SPIRIT was HOWL originally presented in? Was it STALE
and POLITE or UNDERGROUND and FOR THE PEOPLE? (People
played drums and chanted during the original reading, if you
recall).
3. YOUR CALL TO ‘END CENSORSHIP’
IS A FRAUD
You invite no one actually connected to the LITERARY
UNDERGROUND which HOWL helped inspire. NOBODY who is a
direct legacy in style and substance to Ginsberg’s great poem will
be speaking.
Great UNDERGROUND writers like BILL BLACKOLIVE, JACK
SAUNDERS and FRANK WALSH (all without an MFA) have courted
the literary establishment for years only to meet with REJECTION,
though each of them has a loyal following. They prove the RULE
that, in today’s society, one has to be APPROVED to be considered a
REAL WRITER. IS THE LITERARY ESTABLISHMENT NOT GUILTY
OF CENSORSHIP WHEN IT ONLY ACCEPTS WRITERS WITH AN
MFA OR PEOPLE WHO ARE RICH ENOUGH (LIKE RICK MOODY)
TO GAIN ACCESS to IMPORTANT LITERARY EDITORS AND
PUBLISHERS???
………………………………………………………………………
Pat King is a filmmaker and editor of the Cathedral zine.
………………………………………………………………………
GO HERE TO ENTER THE MONDAY REPORT BOX.
