Howl

I will express this first : this is my honest repsonse to the Poem called "Howl : for Carl Solomon." This poem somehow hit me in a way that I did not intend it to. A friend of mine sent me a link to the poem (that I will place at the end of my entry) and I thought it was just going to be another one of those random things that my friends send me, an inappropriate photo or an informational link about the proper techniques of extracting more potent doses of a certain drug. Instead I received a more altering experience. In a generation preceding the free loving hippies of the 1960s, we were given the influence of the Beats. The Beats have always held a certain amount of interest to me but now that I have read this poem and experienced the essence housed within it I find myself all the more drawn to this allure that seemed to have been so frowned upon by others.

Howl made me think in a new light that had been overlooked until now. Other things have been making more of a prominent effect in my life since I began reading this poem. I had to read it a few times in order for it to set in a layer of my mind that would be retained. I can't help but to think of the images and they make me celebrate all the more in the differences we are surrounded with. This celebration is not a positive one necessarily, nor is it negative, it is more a grander recognition of the facts.

We know not everything is sunshine and rainbows. There are storms that will shke the world. The very first two lines read :

" I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,"

My mind began twisting the images brought forth by this poem. Such strong imagery should be shared with others, you see, and that is why I share it with you.

I know you will not experience it as I did. I know it may not touch you as it has me, but I don't mind. But I extend it to you with the hope that one of you will glean something from it.

http://members.tripod.com/~Sprayberry/poems/howl.txt