Peter Orlovsky Biography | Poet

Peter Orlovsky (born July 8, 1933) is an American poet best known for being the lover of Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg.

A high school drop out, he served as a stateside medic in the US Army during the Korean War. He met Ginsberg through the painter Robert La Vigne in San Francisco in December 1954. Orlovsky served as Ginsberg's secretary, traveled the world with him, and was his lover in an open relationship for four decades.

Orlovsky's publications include the poetry collection Clean Asshole Poems & Smiling Vegetable Songs, number 37 in the City Lights Pocket Poets Series which includes:

Second Poem

Thank god I have an innocent eye for nature.

I was born to remember a song about love - on a hill a butterfly

makes a cup that I drink from, walking over a bridge of

flowers.