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Allen Ginsberg

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"America, I have given you all and now I'm nothing. America, $2.27 on January 17, 1956. I can't stand my own mind. When will we end the human war? Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb. I don't feel good. Don't bother me. I won't write my poem til I'm in my right mind. America, when will you be angelic? When will you take off your clothes? When will you be worthy of your million trotskyites? Why are your libraries full of tears? America when can I go into a grocery store and buy what I need with my good looks?"

Allen Ginsberg
America

Name=Elizabeth
Age=18
email=temple2L@aol.com
WWW_Page=http://members.aol.com/temple2LL/koala.html
City=Huntington
State=New York
Country=United States
Findout=Some damn search engine
How is life treating you?="Oh I'm just grand, because I am my sheltered life protected by my parental figures... BUT IN NORTH KOREA, 1,000 CHILDREN ARE STARVING TO DEATH EVERY DAY AND THEY CAN'T EVEB EAT THE RELIEF FOOD BECAUSE THEIR DIGESTIVE TRACTS ARE TO WEAK TO DIGEST GRAIN!"
comments="no comment. except that maybe you overdid the nudity... unless you were going for the soft porn thing. Bye now."

      Dear Elizabeth,

      Sorry about the nudity; but I am a big fan of the naked female body and love poetry and consequently that is reflected on my wepbages.

      I checked out your webpage and found it an interesting read. I was surprised to read the following: "I have no defense and I am simply a waste of a life... but then again, most people are." I am not sure if you are being serious or just doing the sulky teenage thing, but even if it is true that most people are "a waste of life" it is impolite to say so. I have had long interaction with some truly heinous people in extremely violent areas in my life, but I never generalized upon all of humanity in such a way. If people are sometimes weak and fail to fully embrace life, they are also often more noble and courageous than you give them credit for.

      And living in "the disgusting suburbs of Long Island, New York"? What terrible things have happened to you to say such a thing? I would be interested to know since I have never been to Long Island. And "I will move to Paris because to put it mildly, I have become intollerent of the ways of our America"? Why do I suspect with such an attitude you will merely find new French things to upset you. Home is where you hang your hat; it is not a place which provides us with inner peace but our own spiritual and intellectual outlook on life.

      When I was younger I used to hate the suburb where I grew up. I still cannot say I love the place for a variety of reasons, but I have lived in some truly God forsaken places and come to respect certain things about it (and make my peace with the area). People are not all that different. And after having traveled widely, I cannot believe that America is worse than any other place. In reading Ginsberg's quotes, I wonder if his opinion might change if he lived in North Korea and had a reality check. Maybe he might look at the prospect of living in a suburb of Long Island with different eyes.

      At any rate, I wish you luck next year at George Washington. College has been so far the best time of my life, although I didn't appreciate it at the time.

      Very Truly Yours,

      Richard Geib