Beat Generation

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Poetry notes:
7/14/2019

"The Beat Generation was a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized throughout the 1950s. The central elements of Beat culture are the rejection of standard narrative values, making a spiritual quest, the exploration of American and Eastern religions, the rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition and experimentation with drugs...In the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were incorporated into the hippie and larger counterculture movements." -Wikipedia: Beat Generation

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Long arm gendarme
My mistake namaste
Backpack bivouac
On the Road with Kerouac

Brilliant stars, silent nights
Fireflies, Northern Lights
Mountain streams, fresh air
Fall asleep anywhere

Small town, take a chance
Pig roast, barn dance
Allemande left!  Do-si-do!
Spontaneity here we go!

Long arm gendarme
My mistake namaste
Backpack bivouac
On the Road with Kerouac

Beat Zen's hey-day
Doing things our own way
Nonconformity, anything goes
Kerouac-Ginsburg-Burroughs

Shot to pieces, picking skin
Benzedrine, adrenaline 
Don't forget the Phenergan
Notify our next of kin

Long arm gendarme
My mistake namaste
Backpack bivouac
On the Road with Kerouac

Copyright © | Year Posted 2019



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Date: 7/24/2019 7:46:00 PM
Masterfully done. Right there with you every step of the way. Ginsburg was my intro to beatniks... Right into the FAVEs. Great write, Mark!! :) gw
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Toney Avatar
Mark Toney
Date: 7/24/2019 10:29:00 PM
Much obliged, Gershon, and I very much appreciate the Fave! ~Mark
Date: 7/15/2019 3:28:00 PM
I was in SF at the hey day of the Beats. Hanging out with poets. It was a fantastic time in North Beach.Oh, that Italian coffee! City Lights Bookstore in SF on Broadway, Too. Your poem is great! They still are beloved poets On The Road, PR
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Toney Avatar
Mark Toney
Date: 7/15/2019 4:08:00 PM
Panagiota, great comment! Thanks for sharing your experience. ~Mark
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