When younger, I was inspired by literary outlaws such as Kerouac, Kesey, Ginsberg, Corso, Ferlinghetti & Burroughs. I dug the poetics of songwriters like Dylan, Lennon/McCartney, Harrison, Woody Guthrie, Robert Hunter & Johnny Cash. I was moved to poetry by the jazz riffs of T. Monk, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane & Charles Mingus. I took to certain levels of social activism by studying the likes of all of the above, plus Abbie Hoffman & Wavy Gravy, all of whom spoke in one manner or another of the ill-affects that racism, sexism, bigotry, homophobia and war have on society. I believe the 1967 Human Be-In was a beautiful event (just dig Allen dancing).
I am finding my poetic zen-tread with the guidance of Gary Snyder, Basho, & Native American culture. I am a Leo, born in the Year of the Monkey. Look at me, and I will smile. Tell me what I can and cannot do, and I will resist. I have yet to grow up.
grizzly growl of
jake-brake, applied
two miles west
on I-55
humming through
the city,
reverberates
like a hungry bear
crashing through
the forest
late at night
when the neighborhoods sleep
traffic thins and
the freeway sounds
like a Native American flute
floating across a
darkened reservation
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