Inspired by 'Howl'

[breathtest]

I wrote this poem a few days ago after reading the entirety of 'Howl'. I know it is nowhere near as long but the style i think is very similar. Please comment...

You superficial philistines and modern musicians
Who reek of blood and murder from killing so many
So many promising, retarded, haunted freaks under observation
Who run, crazy and ululating into hospitals
Who weep under lamp glow bedside or deskside
Who talk in plaintive tones of death and sex and lust and spirituality
Who, lonely in guilt-, angst-, sorrow-ridden ecstasy
Slip into intoxicated ease and die by the fire,
Embers popping in the dead of night

You broke the dream, you with your holy ambitions
And unholy perverted pleasures
That you desperately deny or adjust
On rattling bus west or east but never north or south
On ashen seats, holes burnt into the material
Orange glow, quickly burns out, prophetic candle,
No rebukes will stop you on your journey of sadistic experimentation
And sacrificial slaughter (hypocrite) and redundant imagery
Bleeding through the paper and splashing your bare feet
Turning them red then green then blue
Then rendering you naked with imperfect skin
Then surreal trials and flashing light on streets outside historic buildings you have only seen on television
And angelic mysticism exposed as turtle shell, hollow drowning
And thick-wound rope menacing, attached to the ceiling
And rope burn, red and pulsating necklace

I would also advise anybody who hasn't read 'Howl' by Allen Ginsberg to do so and maybe comment about it here. Maybe we can spark a discussion on it as i think it was one of the most pivotal poems of the 20th Century. It is a long slog of a read but take your time and enjoy!

[PrinceMyshkin]

I confess to not having read "Howl" nor intending to, but one can't escape having seen portions of it quoted over and over again, and if that was your major intention, this does seem to have the same quality of prophetic rage - but more to the point, is a fine poem in itself.

[Silas Thorne]

I've read Howl and think you've captured that ranting style, wild and freeform, mad long streams of words, and the rage. :)

I particularly like the first part. Specifically this:

Who, lonely in guilt-, angst-, sorrow-ridden ecstasy
Slip into intoxicated ease and die by the fire,
Embers popping in the dead of night


Howl is a great poem, which I really think requires reading, aloud if your breath can keep up with the line lengths. Yet I think it might be one of those poems that doesn't admit imitation well, since it has a very unique style. :)

Actually, I much prefer 'America', it's so funny! :)And you can hear Ginsberg performing it possibly on youtube. Do a online search if you're keen.

[Dark Muse]

I have to admit I HATE Howl I barely consider it a poem. Any drunk could have rambled that rant off. Ginsberg is my most despised contemporary poet

America is not a poem, it is journal entry that got published.

Your work is an improvement of Howl becasue it at least resembles a poem

[blp]

I have to admit I HATE Howl I barely consider it a poem. Any drunk could have rambled that rant off. Ginsberg is my most despised contemporary poet

America is not a poem, it is journal entry that got published.

Your work is an improvement of Howl becasue it at least resembles a poem


Not to to breathtest's nice homage down, but the language here feels much less poetic than Ginsberg's:

'angel headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night
who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz.'

These are lines 3 and 4. Already they're infinitely less literal and much richer in original imagery than breathtest's. Not trying to say it's great poetry (I think it's pretty good), but 'any drunk'?

And that's just for starters:

'Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the street like endless Jehovahs!...'

[Dark Muse]

I do not find anything particuarly poetic about Howl, it is just ooh look at my shocking use of profanity, ain't I genius?