Annotations for Speaker: Anne Waldman

…[Allen Ginsberg] was cofounder and codirector of the Kerouac School. Allen first laid eyes on Michael McClure… [inaudible]…that Kenneth Rexroth had advised him to visit in 1954 in San Francisco. But they did not officially meet until a party at Ruth Witt-Diamant’s for W.H. Auden later that year. They spoke for five or ten minutes at this party. Michael gave Allen his address and Allen visited him several weeks later with Jack Keroauc. Okay, that was in 1954. The famous Six Gallery reading—that was the name of the gallery, the Six Gallery; it was run by six artists—took place in 1955 and Allen read the first part of Howl, Michael read “For the Death of 100 Whales,” among other things. Since that time, Michael and Allen have frequently shared the stage with each other and jointly with others through the years. The second big historical reading in Berkeley in 1955, I think part of the “Poetry Apocalypse,” where Allen read his poem “America”—“American I am putting my queer shoulder to the wheel”—and Michael read his—what is this?—“Mantric Cadence Poem Called Light,” which is, uh, a repetition of the word “light” several hundred times. Towards the end of the poem, the words “elbow” and “nostril” appear.” 

Waldman and the audience laugh.

They read together in 1965, in Berkeley, as part of the Vietnam peace protests, and in February 1967, they read at the “Be-In” in San Francisco with Suzuki Roshi on the stage. They did three Timothy Leary benefits from 1965 to ’72, and there were numerous other ‘om orgies’ and ‘monster’ poetry readings and ‘return of the monster’ poetry readings in California. They picketed the Varig Airlines together for the Living Theater, and were among the original circumambulators of Mount Tamalpais. They read together at the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church at the Bowery in 1974, and also at a benefit for his holiness Gyalwa Karmapa in San Francisco, also in ’74. So this reading is a continuation of some kind of poetic karmic link between these two poets, between Michael and Allen, so, we’re witnessing this [Waldman laughs]. Michael’s most recent books are Jaguar Skies, published by New Directions this year, and Rare Angel, published by Black Sparrow, and he tells me he’s recently revised his novel, The Adept, or he’s in the process of revising his novel, The Adept. Allen’s most recent book is First Blues: Rags, Ballads, and Harmonium Songs, published by Full Court Press this year. Welcome.