Wednesday, September 6, 2023

We missed a Kerouac-related birthday: poet Louise Bogan

                                               


I saw in our local newspaper today an article about Livermore Falls, Maine native and U.S. Poet Laureate Louise Bogan. It mentioned that her 1897 birthday was recent -- August 11 -- and it struck me that I do not have her in my spreadsheet that I use to keep track of birth and death dates of Kerouac-related people (mostly those who show up in his works via pseudonyms).

Indeed, Louise Bogan shows up in two of Kerouac's works: as Leontine McGee in The Dharma Bums and as Bernice Whalen in Desolation Angels.

Click HERE for a post wherein I curated her book of poetry, The Blue Estuaries: Poems 1923-1968.

Happy belated heavenly birthday, Ms. Bogan. We'll try not to miss it in the future.