Allen Ginsberg at that same ‘Beatnik party’ in Chicago, Ill., October 1959 – his hand is fondling the dog Corso is feeding cookies to
(Good art on that wall!)
(Photo: Francis Miller, LIFE)
Gregory Corso w/ milk, cookies, dog & the hand of Allen Ginsberg
(Photo, cropped – Francis Miller, Chicago 1959 – LIFE)
Poets Hitchhiking on the Highway
Of course I tried to tell him
but he cranked his head
without an excuse.
I told him the sky chases
the sun
And he smiled and said:
‘What’s the use.’
I was feeling like a demon
again
So I said: ‘But the ocean chases
the fish.’
This time he laughed
and said: ‘Suppose the
strawberry were
pushed into a mountain.’
After that I knew the
war was on?
So we fought:
He said: ‘The apple-cart like a
broomstick-angel
snaps & splinters
old dutch shoes.’
I said: ‘Lightning will strike the old oak
and free the fumes!’
He said: ‘Mad street with no name.’
I said: ‘Bald killer! Bald killer! Bald killer!’
He said, getting real mad,
‘Firestoves! Gas! Couch!’
I said, only smiling,
‘I know God would turn back his head
if I sat quietly and thought.’
We ended by melting away,
hating the air!
Gregory Corso at a poetry reading, 1959 (Photo: Francis Miller, LIFE)
Perhaps he read them this one, from Gasoline
Last Night I Drove a Car
Last night I drove a car
not knowing how to drive
not owning a car
I drove and knocked down
people I loved
went 120 through one town.
I stopped at Hedgeville
and slept in the back seat
excited about my new life.