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Still Howling
by Glenn CurrierI wonder
why it is that some of us poets
are addicts.
Ginsberg howled
“the battered bleak of brain drained of brilliance”
bringing me for a moment
to pity those poor beat junkies
grieve the loss
of their milky ways
puked into back alleys.
Then I noticed
myself thumbing strumming
my own nervous beat
into the usual stupor
of my favored escapes
finding an alley of ghosts
to lie down
unshaven reeking
my suburban smugness.
I wonder
why it is some of us poets
are addicts.
What kind of loathing
spawned in our acid nights,
who the stealthy Prometheus
took our innocence
tried to loot our fire?
Is it fear of gravity
drawing us down
from the bright atmosphere
where we were born
and yearn
in the nuclei of every cell
to return?
But ultimately…
who cares the wheres and whys
as long as we claw our way back
to our art
and scream at the fates? 08/12/2010 Author's Note: I write this with much gratitude to Richard Hugo (echoed here in the last line) and to Greg O'Neill who introduced me to him. I recently finished reading Hugo's wonderful book, The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry Writing. I also bow to Alan Ginsberg and "Howl" for the quoted line in the second stanza.
Posted on 08/12/2010
Copyright © 2026 Glenn Currier
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Alison McKenzie on 08/12/10 at 05:09 PM Oh, I love this Glenn!!! It does speak to why we can't leave it alone...for sure!!! |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 08/12/10 at 05:51 PM Ah Glenn, I was fortunate to have had someone in Paris read Howl to me when I was 19. And we "howl" because we see around us what is and believe in what it could be. It does spawn a form of depression that turns to the "rant". A great write and tribute to the man. |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 08/12/10 at 06:53 PM Excellent, Glenn! And I do believe in fate, but then I practice leaning into it, just to make sure it sees me, that's just the stage I choose. Emerson said,"There are two classes of poets - the poets by education and practice, these we respect; and poets by nature, these we love." And I think it's that nature that provides us our gigantic playing field...to be a Ginsberg, Frost, or Ashbery. Thanks. |
| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 08/14/10 at 01:07 AM A thoughtprovoking look at too many poets!
Many Christian theologians would say it stems from original sin! We all have to deal with sin one way or another! Best to let God through Christ deal with it in our lives! |
| Posted by Elizabeth Jill on 08/14/10 at 03:28 PM Glenn, how fine a poem this is!
I thank God for your talent.
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