Poem of the Day - Part 37

Footnote to Howl
by Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet, one of the voices of the Beat Generation. He is most famous for his poem Howl, written in 1954-1955, which denounced the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity. Above is a young Ginsberg, at left, with his friend Gregory Corso.

Footnote to Howl is actually the last part of the four-part poem Howl.  The poem is much too long to replicate it here, so we'll just look at the first few lines of Footnote to Howl.

Footnote to Howl

Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!

The world is holy! 

The soul is holy! The skin is holy!

(Shirts vs skins rugby game)

The nose is holy!

The tongue and cock ...

and hand and asshole holy!

Everything is holy!  everybody's holy!  everywhere is holy!  everyday is in eternity!  Everyman's an angel!

Above, Hell's Angels kissing, San Francisco, 1964.  The poem goes on and on, but we get the idea that Ginsberg's values are not "Middle America" values.