#larrysloman

[ginzyblog]

Ah! that we know ourselves better,

     Ah! that America rise from

          the dead matter

& transcend this body heavy asphalt usury

          being with each other

            Trembling with city hatred

          dropping acid Death Fear

     lovelessness alone on metal

          planet floor—or

            grass green meadow

among Equal Creatures, trees flourishing their Barken Kind

                                                 leaf flared—

ah What Seek we in Miami Heaven Earth

          But End to Fear

Ah! to rejoice in World Illusion

     airplane sound street body under sky—

Apocatastasis Ah!

               Release of our knowledge

                         our suffering in kind— Excerpt From: Allen Ginsberg “These States: to Miami Presidential Convention” Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, John Giorno, Miami Republican Presidential convention, August 1972 (photo: Larry ‘Ratso’ Sloman)

[ginzyblog]

One of several iconic pot protest shots of Allen, this by Benedict J Fernandez, December 1964. Allen once referred to it as the first ‘pro legalization protest ever’, it’s at the steps of the Department of Welfare building, now the Christodora, Ave B & 9th Street, NYC. • • Larry Sloman in his ‘Reefer Madness’ amusingly writes: “Besides, I had always loved the poster of Ginsberg that was sold in the mid-sixties, the one where he was wearing a huge placard at an early marijuana demonstration like some bearded, horn-rimmed rent-a-vagrant advertising three-dollar haircuts, a styrofoam of coffee gingerly held aloft, with a light snow topping almost bald pate like white laurel leaves. The sign, crudely hand-lettered, read “Pot Is Fun,” and the sly, sheepish–no, elfish–grin on Ginsberg’s face was testomony to that” (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1998, pp. 171-172). • props to  aphelis.net for the great research on this! #420 #allenginsberg #pot #legalize #potisfun #christodora #poet #poetrycommunity #larrysloman #reefermadness