A Beat in Concord – v4

Sitting in traffic, waiting for the light
heat and humidity building in the van,
one window open to moist air after flooding
only there for a moment, in shadows
under the highway, waiting for light

A character, a caricature,
a man out of time on the sidewalk,
below the underpass, half in shadow
A beat, a throwback, caught in time
not a Ginsberg, no he wouldn’t Howl,
a modern day Kerouac, or one who aspired to be

Drawn to him, his gait, a slouched walk, tousled hair
his clothes, how he carried himself
bath sandals worn outside too long
oversized thrift store blazer, elbows patched
over a frock prom shirt, frilled, cranberry edging
hunched shoulders, time spent in dimly lit libraries,
before glowing computer screens, shaded lamps

A sense of the latte on his breath
languid scent of clove cigarettes in the wool of his coat
too warm for the day around him, sweltering
a mop of coarse black hair
that hadn’t seen a brush in days
sunken eyes, and a certainty, a deep knowing
oh, he’d written lines far darker than these
words that would confuse and provoke
unfairness of the mundane, inertia
bleakness of his bourgeois existence
unaware of his place, his role in the intelligentsia

A yawn at the coffee house, or maybe a demigod
reading urgent, sharp lines he might have written
(or so it certainly seemed, looking at him)
hard to say from across the street, fleetingly
driving by his path, for these few brief seconds
before my light turns green and I go down the road
away from the college-aged, but no-longer-in-college beat
on this humid Concord street

====

edited April 16, 2015

A Beat in Concord – v7

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-beat-in-concord-v7.html

(editing version 4)

Edited October 19, 2013

“A Beat in Concord – v6”

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-beat-in-concord-v6.html

Edited July 2, 2013

“A Beat in Concord – v5”

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-beat-in-concord-v5.html

based on original version

further edits June 30, 2012

A Beat in Concord – v4

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/06/beat-in-concord-v4.html

(turning the poem to the present tense)

further edits June 30, 2012

A Beat in Concord – v3

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/06/beat-in-concord-v3.html

further edited June 6, 2012 (with edited by Elisha and Marshall Burns)

A Beat in Concord – v2 - 2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/06/beat-in-concord-v2-2.html

edited June 6, 2012

A Beat in Concord – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/06/beat-in-concord-v2.html

written May 18, 2006 5:59pm

A Beat in Concord

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/05/beat-in-concord.html

written about someone I saw under the Exit 14 underpass, Concord, NH

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 42,950 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

air, breath, coffee, colors, Concord NH, cranberry, driving, eyes, house, light, love, path, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, sandals, senses, smells, walking, memories, depression, college,

#breath #coffee #colors #ConcordNH #driving #eyes #light #path #poetry #senses #smells #walking #memories #depression

Howl Turns 50

http://www.citylights.com/His/CLhowl.html

http://www.citylights.com/His/CLhowlhist.html

http://www.citylights.com/His/CLhowlcel.html

-----
I actually got a letter from Allen Ginsberg in November 1991. On the same day as a letter from Tom Clancy. Too funny!

Here is the letter I sent to the poet Allen Ginsberg in 1991 at the start of my effort to include the thoughts of influential Americans in my research on Presidential Succession. I thought it was very interesting that he was willing to respond to my queries even though I had misspelled both his first name and last name. He was known for large correspondence. He wrote his responses onto my original letter with an angry script (fine point black felt tip pen - I think). He responded only 2 weeks after my mailing to him. I have put his responses below my questions.

November 18, 1991

Alan Ginsburg (Corrected to Allen Ginsberg)
c/o City Lights Bookstore
261 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133

Dear Mr. Ginsburg,

I ask for you assistance on a research project. The attached letter is an example of one I have sent to 94 current or former cabinet officers who served from 1969 to the present for their thoughts on the Presidential Succession Law. I hope to expand my study by contacting influential Americans for their interpretation on these issues. Please consider these questions and read the attached letter before responding.

1. How do you think a succession to the Presidency by someone low in the line of succession would work?
- Who knows?

2. Would people of any political stripe accept a Secretary of Education becoming President?
- Why not?
Obviously, any situation that caused the death or incapacity of 17 more senior people would have to be catastrophic.
- I don't think so, not at all

3. Would the rule of law hold?
- Did it ever? Iranscam, CIA dope peddling, etc ??

4. How would the press cover the transfer of power?
- On a cowardly manner except for underground or dissident press. The New York Times still hasn't reported on what seems to me to have been a takeover of power by Military-Industrial-Nuke + CIA Oligarchy since 1970's - (about '72).

(signed) Allen Ginsberg
12/8/91

He also put a return address label below his signature:
Allen Ginsberg
P.O.B. 582 - Stuyesant Station
New York, N.Y. 10009 U.S.A.

----
Later, I found some of the same text almost verbatim in one of his poems, in a bookstore in North Conway, NH.


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 18,840+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.