Saturday, April 9, 2016

Proud-pied April: I'm alive and I got work to do

You hear the words Jack Kerouac and you think road trip, right? You think the quintessential post-war male flip-the-bird-at-society drug-and-alcohol-propelled stream-of-consciousness adventure.

Well, okay. Does it kill your buzz to know that Kerouac was actually a devout Roman Catholic who also delved deeply into the introspection of Buddhism?

Propelled by drugs and alcohol, of course. But still.

And he wrote poetry that reflects all of this. Mexico City Blues is an example, written largely during a 1955 stay in Mexico City and the product of a whole lot of marijuana and morphine. It’s a collection of 242 pieces, which Kerouac called choruses, exploring what poets explore—existence, meaning, the whole megillah.

It’s really hard to choose just one to share for National Poetry Month, but today I’ll go with number 235. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a cellar club on poetry slam night, breathing in cigarette smoke and drinking strong, bad coffee. You may express your appreciation with the snapping of fingers.

"235th Chorus"

Dont camp,
You know very well
        What’ll happen to you
When you die
        and claim
           you dont know you’re dead
           when you die and you know
           “I know dont know that I’m dead”

Don’t camp. Death, the no-buzz,
        no-voices, is, must be, the same,
        as life, the tzirripirrit of thupsounds
        in this crazy world that horrifies my mornings
        and makes me mad wildhaired in a room
        like old metaphysical ogrish poets
        in rooms of macabre mysteries.

But it’s hard to pretend you dont know
That when you die you wont know.

I know that I’m dead.
I wont camp. I’m dead now.
What am I waiting for to vanish?
        The dead dont vanish?
                      Go up in dirt?
                How do I know that I’m dead.
                      Because I’m alive
                        and I got work to do
                                 Oh me, Oh my,
                                   Hello – Come in –



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