By Ron Whitehead
right now i’m in asheville ashville
ash yes the right place the right time ashes
burned burned failed destroyed ashes
so what do i do quit give up become cinder for that
long distance never ending railroad track to nowhere
give up allen ginsberg preaches take a hand share the word the
poetry gospel coming from the gonads the solar plexus the heart and
the head yes thank you allen for the
energy for the love and my head rises a little
to watch my son dylan and my daughter rani
dancing to the b52’s love shack playing on the jukebox
in asheville and i’m lookin at the moon over the mountain
thinkin bout the kid from cheyenne
and the others from denver
and i think of denver and of dean moriarty
of neal cassady’s flame gone gone gone
his naked body lying beside those
long distance never ending railroad tracks to nowhere
and i hope those kids from the west
hell i hope all of us
keep the funk
keep the flame that gnostical turpitude flame
alive
don’t let the system break you don’t let life break you
so that when the time comes when your time is up
you either go screamin or go with peace in your heart
into that dark night
and now somebody’s playing the blues on the piano
and yeah two days ago rani and i were sitting
at ginsberg’s table in new york city talkin bout asheville
talkin bout the 20 grand i lost putting on that
48-hour non-stop music and poetry insomniacathon to
kickoff new york university’s 50-year celebration of
the beat generation and i’m talkin with allen ginsberg and herbert
huncke and gregory corso but like when marc smith proclaims his
name the audience responds so what and i’m thinkin bout the green
mill & poetry alive
and i know few know how much work the poets do for poetry but i
know now that the reward the pay is in the experience and suddenly i
remember that the ash
in celtic and scandinavian mythology is the tree
most generally associated with magic
and yes here i am in asheville with
all these poets who somehow know the alchemical magical
power of poetry of the word yes manger du livre
eat the word and the word will set you free
and i’m in asheville thinkin bout allen ginsberg
and what he said bout takin somebody’s hand
cause we’re all in this together we’re pullin
we ain’t pushin we’re lettin it be
we ain’t forcin it and i realize that a poem like a
painting or a song is only the representation of
the actual experience the real poem is the event itself
and i’m thinkin bout the national poetry slam
in asheville and out of the ash that i am i feel an energy
risin through me growin strong comin from poets of
all ages and i’m in asheville
but it don’t feel like failure no more it feels
friendly it feels good it feels strong like some kind of
rebirth
into poetry
into life
it feels like
resurrection
right now
right here
in asheville
copyright (c) 2015 ron whitehead