The Ghost Sonata
Gregory Corso loved Patti Smith. Patti Smith loved Jim Carroll. Jim Carroll loved Ted Berrigan. Ted Berrigan loved Mark and Mark loved me. Once after Gregory was gone maybe two years, I’m not good with numbers, I ran into Patti at the O.T.B. on King St. It was a delicious day in June, the type day you’d wait a whole year for. Clear sunshine, no humidity, the air clean and cool … [Read more...]
Poetic Licence: The Crime and Hard Time of Gregory Corso, or A Portrait of the Poet as a Young Felon
“When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state. And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries. And look upon myself and curse my fate …” --- William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29 “If you believe you’re a poet, then you’re saved.” --- Gregory Corso A plot to take over the city of New York, a cunning robbery with … [Read more...]
Being Michael Brownstein – Thomas Locicero
Being Michael Brownstein We exit the underground at Penn Station, determined to walk, if only to breathe out the stench of urine from our Long Island lungs. She suggests we stop at Gotham Book Mart. I spend two hundred dollars on books and then realize I have no way to transport them. She guards them while I hunt for a backpack. I return to give words a piggyback … [Read more...]
Five poems on the Beat Generation
Jan Kerouac Baby Driver "Looking for adventure in whatever comes my way I was a true nature's child Born to be wild-----" Steppenwolf Dreams of Hawaiian island paradise home ends up in a hopped up car chase, shotgun seat riding with a mad husband in wife's stolen late model car, listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon"---- and all that you give and all … [Read more...]
Beat Generation Poet to Get New Voice with Kickstarter Campaign
A collection of rare and out-of-print interviews with Gregory Corso, one of the founders of the Beat movement in American literature Arlington, MA, February 11, 2015 -- After five years of research and editing, Rick Schober, publisher at Tough Poets Press (Arlington, MA), has announced the completion of The Whole Shot: Collected Interviews with Gregory Corso. The … [Read more...]
Two Poems by Alessandra Bava
Apres Nous, Le Chaos (to Lawrence Ferlinghetti) In the bookstore the voice slowly uncurls some pages of life, revealing Allen's loss: "There is a HUGE HOLE in the sky" - That same voice is painting vividly that very hole to the marrow. The poet never dies, nor does his voice. Wasn't it … [Read more...]
Review – The Beats: A Very Short Introduction by David Sterritt
The Beats: A Very Short Introduction by David Sterritt / Oxford University Press / 978-0-19-979677-9 / 126 pages David Sterritt's work might be familiar to Beat or film aficionados through his previous books, which include Mad to be Saved: The Beats, the '50s, and Film, and Screening the Beats: Media Culture and the Beat Sensibility among others. In The Beats: A Very … [Read more...]
On Being Corso’s Lover
In the Cadillac of my imagination unraveling in Corso's kitchen we eat verses of Homer for lunch. He becomes my Odysseus. My fingers are burnt and veins tapped. Our highs grow weary as we strum down fateful guitars. Black curls on blond curls while I imagine Degas would paint us both ballerinas. His strong calves curl raw around my dirty sheets, as I mount his … [Read more...]
4 terrific Gregory Corso videos
In honor of Gregory Corso's birthday (he was born March 26, 1930), we've collected some videos of him. Check 'em out. 1. & 2. Gregory Corso Walks and Talks in Roma, 1989 "Two weeks with Gregory during one of his long stays in Roma, with Michael Sullivan, Francis Kuipers, Adriano Gangi, Mimmo Cioffarelli, Dario Bellini and friends. *Transcription of all talks from two hours … [Read more...]
Beat Generation Photos by Rob Lee
[Editor's note: These photos are small! This page was first created many years ago for smaller screens. I have larger photos somewhere and will update this page as soon as possible.] Shig MuraoOctober 16,1989 Shig was one of the founders of City Lights. A generous, kind and unassuming person, Shig was a quiet fixture in the North Beach art community. Ginsberg stayed at … [Read more...]
About Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso passed away on January 19, 2001 at the age of 70, after a long illness. Corso was one of the major figures of the Beat Generation. He was a poet, painter, traveler, and occasional lecturer. His vibrant, vital, authentic poetry celebrates the mystery of life and death through everyday detail and mystic visions. Though he never gained the truly widespread fame … [Read more...]
Book Review – Who was Sinclair Beiles?
Who was Sinclair Beiles? / Gary Cummiskey & Eva Kowalska, editors / Dye Hard Press / 2009 / 978-0-620-42792-0 Before I opened Dye Hard Press' new volume, its title, Who was Sinclair Beiles? was a question I certainly didn't know the answer to. His is a name I've occasionally come across, as a poet who, as a resident of Paris' famous "Beat Hotel," created cut-ups with William … [Read more...]
