Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Silliman's Blog-Jack Kerouac

Silliman seems to be the go to guy when it comes to contemporary poetry. Of course, I making a very broad assumption since I'm not really in the contemporary poetry scene. Nevertheless, when clicking around, I saw that he had some of his posts tagged as "Beat Poetry". What is beat poetry? Well, I thought it had to do with the beating of the drum, or something similar. That the poetry was written or read in a way so that it seemed to have a beat. Upon a quick Google search, I was informed that beat poetry refers to the beat generation of the 1950's in which a group of American writers rejected mainstream values and experimented with drugs and alcohol to increase their interests intellectually.

Silliman posts a little video regarding a book about Jack Kerouac who was an important figure in the beat generation. Seen as someone who was able to take something ordinary, and see it in a different light. He was able to see thing, hear things, and feels things in ways others could not, and describe them in his own poetry. The anti-mainstream America topic is also fairly prominent when reading one of his poems.

Bus East

by: Jack Kerouac
Society has good intentions Bureaucracy is like a friend
5 years ago - other furies other losses -

America's
trying to control the uncontrollable Forest fires, Vice

The essential smile In the essential sleep Of the children Of the essential mind

I'm
all thru playing the American
Now I'm going to live a good quiet life

The
world should be built for foot walkers

Oily
rivers Of spiney Nevady

I
am Jake Cake
Rake
Write like Blake

The
horse is not pleased Sight of his
gorgeous finery
in the dust Its silken
nostrils
did disgust

Cats
arent kind Kiddies anent sweet

April
in Nevada - Investigating Dismal Cheyenne Where the war parties
In fields
of straw
Aimed over oxen At Indian Chiefs
In wild headdress Pouring thru
the gap
In Wyoming plain
To make the settlers
Eat more dust than dust
was eaten In the States From East at Seacoast Where wagons made up To dreadful
Plains
Of clazer vup

Saltry
settlers
Anxious to masturbate The Mongol Sea (I'm too tired in Cheyenne -
No sleep in 4 nights now, & 2 to go) 


2 comments:

  1. I learned what beat poetry was after reading this!
    You learned me a thing and I thank you for that!

    I really like the spacing choices of all these poets that we are reading about! Or on.
    Well their poems anyways! They are interesting and different from what I initially expected!

    I kinda relate poetry or at least beat poetry to animation now!
    because i'm a dork and gotta relate yano.

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  2. Oh wow, I've never known that a type of poetry referred to a time in the past. Cool! I've never known this before but learning about it now is pretty interesting. Funny how I can see poet in the 1950s make catchy poems with the use of alcohol and drugs, it probably gave their mind a slight pop.

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