This poem comes from Big Sur, a novel about Jack’s visits to a cabin in Big Sur to spend time with Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It’s a gorgeous novel. Here, Jack comes face to face with himself--after trying to get as far away from himself as he could (Dylan’s line in Things Have Changed). The set up for the mirror is full of ugliness and pain. When he sees Burrough’s Stranger for his face in the mirror, it’s escape to Big Sur or die. At least that’s what I think is going on. It’s been a long time since I read Big Sur.
I forget how free Jack K became with his thoughts … his writing .. unfettered free verse that tells it like it is … no boundaries whatsoever … simply free of rules .. allowing for pure expression… so inspirational.. a reminder of how socialization cramps our style more and more over time … Saint Jack lives on!
I’m now seeing that Jack and Charles were born within months of one another. Something in the stars eh? Unfettered free verse that tells it like it is... yes...there are gorgeous passages in his novel Big Sur. Buk and Jack for sure share an unfettered rejection of ivory tower poetry. Buk, however, went to a community college. Jack went to Columbia and was mentored by Mark Van Doren, who was awarded a Pulitzer for his poetry in 1940. Tantalizing topic, this.
Yes, when you spend three years in a stuporous funk and then wake up with the DTs, a cobweb constructed in your throat, it’s not a bad idea to escape or die. The only question is how did you wind up there? And where are you escaping to? On first glance it looks like the Beats and Bukowski would pair up like Zinfandel and filet, but to my eye they are very different. As I recall Bukowski has a beef (!) with the Beats not because they rebelled against the academics in charge of literature (Bukowski liked what he liked academic or not and didn’t much care what others thought as near as I can tell). His biographer Neeli Cherkovski sheds little light here.
many thanks for all your extraordinary poems...it is a gift to have found poetic outlaws...and today this heavy poem from jack kerouac...outstanding
Thank you so much!
I add my thanks. It’s cool to get your poems. I hope more readers comment. I’d love to read them.
This poem comes from Big Sur, a novel about Jack’s visits to a cabin in Big Sur to spend time with Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It’s a gorgeous novel. Here, Jack comes face to face with himself--after trying to get as far away from himself as he could (Dylan’s line in Things Have Changed). The set up for the mirror is full of ugliness and pain. When he sees Burrough’s Stranger for his face in the mirror, it’s escape to Big Sur or die. At least that’s what I think is going on. It’s been a long time since I read Big Sur.
Bad ass Poem!
Love it! You're always digging up stuff I've never read.
I forget how free Jack K became with his thoughts … his writing .. unfettered free verse that tells it like it is … no boundaries whatsoever … simply free of rules .. allowing for pure expression… so inspirational.. a reminder of how socialization cramps our style more and more over time … Saint Jack lives on!
I’m now seeing that Jack and Charles were born within months of one another. Something in the stars eh? Unfettered free verse that tells it like it is... yes...there are gorgeous passages in his novel Big Sur. Buk and Jack for sure share an unfettered rejection of ivory tower poetry. Buk, however, went to a community college. Jack went to Columbia and was mentored by Mark Van Doren, who was awarded a Pulitzer for his poetry in 1940. Tantalizing topic, this.
Yes, when you spend three years in a stuporous funk and then wake up with the DTs, a cobweb constructed in your throat, it’s not a bad idea to escape or die. The only question is how did you wind up there? And where are you escaping to? On first glance it looks like the Beats and Bukowski would pair up like Zinfandel and filet, but to my eye they are very different. As I recall Bukowski has a beef (!) with the Beats not because they rebelled against the academics in charge of literature (Bukowski liked what he liked academic or not and didn’t much care what others thought as near as I can tell). His biographer Neeli Cherkovski sheds little light here.
Thanks! Found something.
https://bukowskiforum.com/threads/yes-he-was-a-beat-writer.202/