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Secular or Eclectic : Beat
Buddhist : Zen / Chan
20th Century

About Jack Kerouac

Timeline (1922 - 1969)

Jack Kerouac, Jack Kerouac poetry, Secular or Eclectic, Secular or Eclectic poetry, Beat poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, Buddhist poetry

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Original Language
English

Bowery Blues

Themes
  Dawn
  Death
  Lover and Beloved
  Sexual Union
  Sound

 

Recommended Books

Angelheaded Hipster: A life of Jack Kerouac, by Steve Turner
Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings, by Jack Kerouac
Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation, by Carole Tonkinson
Big Sur, by Jack Kerouac
Book of Blues: (Penguin Poets), by Jack Kerouac

More >>

The story of man
Makes me sick
Inside, outside,
I don't know why
Something so conditional
And all talk
Should hurt me so.

I am hurt
I am scared
I want to live
I want to die
I don't know
Where to turn
In the Void
And when
To cut
Out

For no Church told me
No Guru holds me
No advice
Just stone
Of New York
And on the cafeteria
We hear
The saxophone
O dead Ruby
Died of Shot
In Thirty Two,
Sounding like old times
And de bombed
Empty decapitated
Murder by the clock.

And I see Shadows
Dancing into Doom
In love, holding
TIght the lovely asses
Of the little girls
In love with sex
Showing themselves
In white undergarments
At elevated windows
Hoping for the Worst.

I can't take it
Anymore
If I can't hold
My little behind
To me in my room

Then it's goodbye
Sangsara
For me
Besides
Girls aren't as good
As they look
And Samadhi
Is better
Than you think
When it starts in
Hitting your head
In with Buzz
Of glittergold
Heaven's Angels
Wailing

Saying

We've been waiting for you
Since Morning, Jack
Why were you so long
Dallying in the sooty room?
This transcendental Brilliance
Is the better part
(of Nothingness
I sing)

Okay.
Quit.
Mad.
Stop.

 

 

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.