I noticed the grass,I noticed the hills,I noticed the highways,
I noticed the dirt road,I noticed car rows in the parking lot
I noticed ticket takers,I noticed the cash and checks & credit cards,
I noticed buses,noticed mournders,I noticed their children in red dresses,
I noticed the entrance sign,noticed retreat houses,noticed blue & yellow flags –
noticed the devotees,their trucks & buses,guards in Khaki uniforms
I noticed crowds,noticed misty skies,noticed the all-pervading smiles and empty eyes –
I noticed pillows,colored red & yellow,square pillows and round –
I noticed the Tori Gate,passers-through bowing,a parade of men & women in formal dress –
noticed the procession,noticed the bagpipe,drym,horns,noticed high
silk head crowns & saffron robes,noticed the three piece suits,
I noticed the palanquin,an umbrella,the stupa painted with jewels the colors of the four directions –
amber of generosity,green for karmic works,noticed the while for Buddha,red for the heart –
thirteen worlds on the stupa hat,noticed the bell handle and umbrella,
the the empty head of the cement bell –
noticed the monks chanting,horn plaints in our ears,smoke rising from atop the firebrick empty bell –
noticed the crowds quiet,noticed the Chilean poet,noticed a Rainbow,
I noticed the Guru was dead,I noticed his teacher bare breasted watching the corpse burn in the stupa,
noticed mourning students sat crosslegged before their books,
chanting devotional mantras,
gestering mysterious fingers,bells & brass thunderbolts in their hands
I noticed flame rising above flags & wires & umbrellas & painted orange poles
I noticed the sky,noticed the sun,a rainbow round the sun,
light misty clouds drifting over the sun –
I noticed my own heart beating,breath passing thru my nostrils
my feet walking,eyes seeing,noticing smoke above the corpse - fir’d monument
I noticed the pass downhill,noticed the crowd moving toward buses
I noticed food,lettuce salad,I noticed the Teacher was absent,
I noticed my friends,noticed our car the blue Volvo,a young boy held my hand
our hey in the motel door,noticed a dark room,noticed a dream
and forgot,noticed oranges lemons & caviar at breakfast,
I noticed the highay,sleepiness,homework thoughts,the boy’s nippled chest in the breeze
as the car rolled down the hillsides past green woods to the water,
I noticed the houses,balconies overlooking a misted horizon,shore & old work rocks in the sand
I noticed the sea,I noticed the music,I wanted to dance.
-Allen Ginsberg
4 comments:
I borrowed this awesome short-film on Allen Ginsberg's visit to London in '67 called "Ah, Sunflower!". It was so amazing that I had to go through the arduous process of copying the damn things to my computer, cutting out the best bit, then uploading it to a video site and blogging about it.
http://unremarkablegarden.tumblr.com/post/64239768/ah-sunflower-allen-ginsberg-in-london-1967
Also, have you seen the new doco called "The life and times of Allen Ginsberg"? I saw it at Readings for lots of money, but maybe I can borrow it from some library or something...
Also, isn't it strange how there's still a bit of a stigma attached to liking Allen Ginsberg even though none of his critics have move than read the first page of Howl?
Hey I finally saw Renaldo and Clara! Ginsberg's in it of course. He had such a deep resonant voice.
Wow I need to see all of those films - amazing! I can't believe I'm so unaware of them both. But where oh where? This is when I hate living in Australia aka the island of cultural isolation due to lack of population.
I love Ginsberg - my favourite description of him is by Marianne Faithful in her biogrpahy where she says that Dylan's "Just like a woman" was written about him.
i don't know whether its awesome or morbid that i posted this on new years day. i didn't even think about the significance of the day when i was posting. weird
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