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| Peter Orlovsky and Allen Ginsberg by Richard Avedon, New York City, December 30, 1963 |
My Bed is Covered Yellow
My bed is covered yellow - Oh Sun, I sit on you
Oh golden field I lay on you
Oh money I dream of you
More, More, cried the bed - talk to me more -
Oh bed that taked the weight of the world -
all the lost dreams laid on you
Oh bed that grows no hair, that cannot be fucked
or can be fucked
Oh bed crumbs of all ages spiled on you
Oh yellow bed march to the sun whear yr journey will be done
Oh 50 lbs. of bed that takes 400 more lbs-
how strong you are
Oh bed, only for man & not for animalsyellow bed when will the animals have equal rights?
Oh 4 legged bed off the floor forever built
Oh yellow bed all the news of the world
lay on you at one time or another
Peter Orlovsky, 1957, Paris
[from Clean Asshole Poems & Smiling Vegetable Songs, Pocket Poets Series #37, City Lights Books ©1978 by Peter Orlovsky.]
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| Peter Orlovsky and Allen Ginsberg by Richard Avedon, New York City, December 30, 1963. |
Kiss Ass
Kissass is the Part of Peace
America will have to Kissass Mother Earth
Whites have to Kissass Blacks, for Peace & Pleasure,
Only Pathway to Peace, Kissass.
Allen Ginsberg, 1967, Texas
[from Straight Hearts' Delight - love poems and selected letters, Gay Sunshine Press, ©1980]
2 comments:
Oh god, too much hair! (And too much information. Only joking about that bit.)
This poem conveys a very strong and clear message in just a couple of lines. The message is to the society the author is living in and it can be apply in many circumstances. In a sarcastic and aggressive way, Ginsberg highlights the fallacies of America: how people tend to wear a mask in order to be in peace and get ahead.
It is about the honesty that is missing but wants to believe in, in America. He is mentioning a sort of contract between the attitude of “kissing asses” or pleasing someone in order to get what you want. He provides the reader the recipe to obtain something in North America and at the same time he portrays his country, according to his own point of view. Americans claim to be the most powerful country around the world after World War II; yet, they still have to please Mother Nature and black people. I believe he mentions these last two because Ginsberg saw nothing but injustice when dealing with them. The United States sought for improvements leaving them behind. Black people were discriminated against and Mother Nature destroyed by the war. In addition to this, people who thought differently were also alienated from society.
Shallowness was encouraged at the expenses of misaligning values and displaying hypocrisy. Americans believed that the whole country had progressed but it was a false sense of completeness. Eventually, the US would have to please those who were left aside.
I have chosen this poem because none of the authors I have read were as straight as Ginsberg. He states a truth that other authors did not dare to mention. He does not idealize his country in a romantic and poetic way. Moreover, the use of vulgar vocabulary struck me. It had a significant impact the first time I read it. I have never considered that poetry could be also expressed by the use of obscene words. I strongly believe that the author caught my attention through the use of the appropriate vocabulary to express a truth or face up facts as they are.
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