Beat, like this
(after Rumi)
When someone asks how Ginsberg lived
take off all your clothes
like this.
What does "Beat" mean ?
It means the same as
right now and
right here and
with you.
If someone wants to know what
Kerouac's books were about
take them on a drive
in the night
on a fast highway
without any destination.
And if they don't understand
Burroughs obsession with word virus
tell them to try pretending for a day
that everything in advertisements is true
and see how they feel.
And if someone starts to go on
with their learned ideas about Buddhism
read them
Ginsberg's Sunflower Sutra
Snyder's Riprap
Kerouac's Dharma Bums.
And where are the Beats now
play Pearl Jam, Radiohead,
Bob Dylan
Nine Inch Nails and Patti Smith.
And if someone asks why they
should read Beat
tell them to sit in a mall
and try to find one face
full of joy.
And if anyone wakes up
from their mind fog of ego schemes
long enough to really see the food
on the end of their fork
tell them about
the naked lunch.
If the doctors are still cheerfully
prescribing antidepressants
to poor suckers too sensitive to cope
with the cities of Moloch then
stand up and
howl !
If someone wants to know which
of the Beats were gay
have a stranger of unrevealed gender
kiss that person in darkness
like this.
And if someone asks if anyone
is still reading the Beats
read them this poem
like this.