Before Instagram, before
apps and laptops, cordless phones, Kindles, FaceTime, Facebook and Twitter there were gatherings. And salons. That’s where
the fun started. And the art.
The 1950s was almost
another planet in terms of what you’d do on any given day—and the Beat Generation
was more withdrawn from what we call “the grid” than almost anyone else.
Yet, we know the names
of their poets and writers and artists; we know their books; who they were in
love with; what they wanted from their lives and the lives of others. Something
must be driving us to remember them. What?
I may not know exactly, but I do know that years after guys like Jack Kerouac were the next best thing, we're still trying to connect to others who care about poems,
books, films, paintings, plays, songs as much as we do.
Beats might have
withdrawn and drawn themselves into a community; but make no mistake, they knew
what was going on artistically around them.
So when, say, someone
like Saul
Bellow wrote The
Adventures of Augie March, sky rocketing words around like explosions,
I have a hunch the Beats were paying attention. (Or at least, they should have
been).
Did Jack Kerouac read James Joyce? YES,
as Joyce’s character Molly
Bloom might say. And Kerouac said On
the Road was inspired by Joyce.
What does that have to
do with the culture now? While we use different tools, the days of
artists meeting and arguing and reading and feeding each other are still
happening as they always have been.
Because inspiration
doesn’t need an app or a Facebook page. Not that we shouldn’t have them (they’re
fun!) But there are also times when the best thing you write or say or think up
could be something no one else sees... until you run it by a few friends
and let them chew on it.
I guess that’s the
paradox we all come up against when we’re creating. We need to be alone to make
something, but we need to be with others to make it better. So if you set
your eyes on the people who interest you most and live in the moment with them…
you can learn what the Beats knew: a package too neatly tied gets boring. People’s
craziness, passions, fears and thrills are your best hope of creating something
that’s not only memorable, but true.
Because, like Gertrude Stein
said, we write for ourselves and strangers.
Want to read some “off
the beaten track” Beats? I’d try these:
·
—and almost anything
by Gregory Corso.
Redhead reading: Frank Kovalchek
Poet’s chair – City Lights bookstore: Julie Jordan Scott
Poetry stairs: Julie Jordan Scott
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