THE DAILY BEAT: Remembering Joanne Kyger

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Remembering Joanne Kyger

Joanne Kyger

Today we remember poet Joanne Kyger, who died on this date -- March 22 -- in 2017. I don't think she appeared in any of Jack Kerouac's works, but she was married for 5 years or so to Gary Snyder (Japhy in The Dharma Bums).

We wished her a happy birthday on November 19. You can read that post by clicking HERE (it includes a link to some of her poems).

On the synchronicity front, yesterday I received a postcard (actually it came two days ago, but we are letting our mail "percolate" for 24 hours in the mailbox outside before we bring it into the house for fear of exposure to the coronavirus currently plaguing the world) from my friend, Kerouac biographer Gerry Nicosia, and it just so happened to be the Allen Ginsberg picture of Joanne Kyger and Gary Snyder on a dock in the Sea of Japan. Gerry mentioned in his card that he knew Joanne quite well and that she was "lively, witty, + lots of fun!"

The aforementioned postcard on my laptop (BTW, that Google Chrome pic is Salzburg, Austria)

RIP, Ms. Kyger.

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Reviews of The Beat Handbook

Gerald Nicosia, author of the acclaimed Kerouac biography Memory Babe, said The Beat Handbook is "full of Jack's heart."

Jared Randall, author of the excellent book of poetry, Apocryphal Road Code, said this about The Beat Handbook: "Sometimes a book comes along at just the right time. In my wandering pack of experiences, I find they often do. Enter The Beat Handbook by Rick Dale."

Kenneth Morris, Kerouacian extraordinaire, said this:
"I just finished reading Rick Dale's beautiful utterance and call to action of Kerouac mind-set and zen sensibilities. It made me laugh and reflect on my own life and road I have naturally grooved into after absorbing the Kerouac canon. The road less traveled always had my name on it. And that has made all the difference. The Beat Handbook 100 Days of Kerouactions reaffirms the attitudes and ideology that made the Beats and Kerouac the important men of ideas that America (and the world) thirsted for, needed, and swallowed whole. Beautiful, absorbing, Top Ten whipsmart from my articulate, tender-hearted friend and fellow traveler. Highly recommended."