William Carlos Williams

Related to yesterday's post, another beat-related writer I've been "saving for later" is William Carlos Williams. Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder talk about him a lot in their letters to each other (see "What I'm Reading" on sidebar to the right). This week in the paper I read that Williams has been inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. It would be easy to make a snide remark about the dubiousness of that honor, but I will resist. You can read about it at the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

To be equitable to Burroughs, given yesterday's post, below is a Williams quote:

It is almost impossible to state what one in fact believes, because it is almost impossible to hold a belief and to define it at the same time.

I think it's time to read some WCW (as Ginsberg referred to him).

William S. Burroughs synchronicity

I'm interested in William S. Burroughs because he was a pivotal character in Kerouac's circle of beat friends, but I've only read some snippets of his work. On my reading list are Junky and Naked Lunch, and yet I don't think about him much at this point. I'm "saving" him for later. A few days ago, Crystal and I watched the movie, Down Came a Blackbird. I recommend it, but be warned that it is not exactly uplifting. In one scene, Raul Julia's character says, "A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on," and he attributes the quote to Burroughs. My web research seems to confirm the attribution. Maybe I'll move Burroughs higher on my reading list.

I think he's represented in A Casebook on the Beat (a recent acquisition), so there's a starting point.

Oh, and, by the way, synchronistically today is William S. Burroughs' birthday. When I wrote this post and scheduled it to publish today, I didn't know that. My Yahoo! calendar reminded me of his birthday on Feb. 4, so I added this paragraph just in time for publication. Weird!

Neal Cassady numerology in memoriam

Neal Cassady, the inspiration for On The Road and Jack Kerouac's spontaneous writing style, died 41 years ago today at the age of 41, 4 days shy of his 42nd birthday.

41 years ago at age 41. Today is the one and only day in the history of time past present and future that we can ever say that! Does that make this a super-special top-secret beat aficionado day?*

Here's the Wiki on Neal.

Here's an "official" site: Neal Cassady: Behind The Myth.

Want to read more? Just do some Googling. Lots out there.

RIP, holy goof.



*Kerouac died at 47 years of age in 1969, so in 2016 on October 21 we can say, "Jack died 47 years ago today at age 47." Who's gonna remember to remind me to blog about that?

**Tangential synchronistic side note: Another major influence on me, Carl Rogers, died 22 years ago this date in 1987 at the age of 85.

Invitation to write a guest post

I guess I'm putting this out there to put some "public" pressure on myself. It's like when I was writing The Beat Handbook and telling everyone about it. It made it less likely I would abandon the project. Same with my doctorate. Peer pressure is a powerful force.

Recently I received a gracious invitation to write a guest post for Words Are My Power, and I agreed to do it. I won't give away the topic(s), but stay tuned and I'll make sure to alert you when my post gets published. In the meantime, I hope you'll pay the site a visit.

I like its subtitle: Raw. Honest. Authentic.

Opportunities come wrapped in what looks like work.
~Rick Dale

January's free book winner

Congratulations to Tom from New Hampshire for being January's free book winner for his January 14 comment in which he created an erasure poem from my actual post that day.

His blogs are The Mystics Meeting and Mystics Meeting Places. Check them out.

I've sent him an e-mail asking for his snail mail address, and then I'll be sending a copy of The Beat Handbook his way. As always, in return I only ask for a 5-star review on Amazon (if he wishes).

February's contest is underway. Good luck!

Cleave Poetry voting opportunity

Dear Readers:

I'd appreciate your taking a minute and visiting the Cleave Poetry website, reading the poems that are in the running for January's Cleave of the Month, and voting. I know it says voting is open until January 15th, which has passed, but I think that might be an error since the site is still allowing voting and there are very few votes so far.

Of course, I'm hoping you'll vote for my poem, "Immortality," but in any case I hope you'll support the site with a visit.

Thanks!

Jack Kerouac Super Bowl Trivia

I'm not a football fan, but I'll watch the Super Bowl today. It's an excuse to eat a bunch of junk food, the commercials are sometimes entertaining, and I must admit that a close game can be enjoyable. Plus, today features a team from my home state: Pennsylvania. Go Steelers!

Could Jack have seen a Super Bowl? The answer is "yes," but it's complicated. I'll tell you why.

The Super Bowl began in 1967 - Jack was still alive - as the "NFL-AFL World Championship Game." Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt thought up the name "Super Bowl" as a stop-gap name, but a better one didn't come along and the name "Super Bowl" didn't become "official" until 1969.

So in January 1967, Jack may have seen the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. It wasn't officially called the Super Bowl yet, but it's still considered the first Super Bowl.

He might have also seen "Super Bowl II" (although it wasn't called that yet), when the Packers beat the Oakland Raiders 33-14.

Indeed, Jack may have seen the first "official" Super Bowl on January 12, 1969, when Hollywood Joe Namath took the New York Jets to a 16-7 victory over the Baltimore Colts for the AFL's first Super Bowl victory.

I remember watching all three of those games (at age 11, 12, and 13), maybe at the same time as Jack. I'd need to dig through some biographies and letters to see what he was doing at any of those times.

Jack died October 21, 1969, so he missed Super Bowl IV, when the Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in January 1970. I was 14.

I don't know if Jack was a football fan as an adult, but he had been a star player in his youth, even getting a scholarship to Columbia to play football. He sure loved baseball, though, writing about it in his novels, so I can imagine him watching a big football game. Plus he hung out in bars, and the game would have likely been on in any respectable tavern.

Speaking of respectable taverns, Crystal and I have numbers in the Super Bowl pool at The Depot in Gardiner. We both have 3 for the Cardinals. She has 5 for Pittsburgh and I have 6. Big bucks loom. Let's hope there are a lot of field goals (3s and 6s).

Kickoff time is about 6:20 on the east coast. You know what I'll be doing . . . .