Category Archives: The Venice Beat Poets
June 2008 – The Venice Beat Poets – –The Great River Outside the Mainstream – John Haag
By Jim Smith In many ways, John Haag was a typical member of the Beat Generation in that he forsook a career in Academia or Madison Avenue, for a life dedicated to poverty, poetry and his community. But he was … Continue reading
Filed under History, Poetry, The Venice Beat Poets
June 2008 – Poems by John Haag
History Lesson That little ape that came down from a tree and used a stick on his enemy and called aloud to his family to show what a great brave ape was he made followers out of you and … Continue reading
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May 2008 – The Venice Beat Poets – The Great River Outside The Mainstream – Lawrence Lipton
By Jim Smith Lawrence Lipton was something of a father figure to the Beat poets of Venice. He was reviled by many of the poets for his manipulations and commercialism. Yet, they gravitated to his home at 20 Park … Continue reading
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May 2008 – Bruno In Venice West
By Lawrence Lipton For Giordano Bruno burned by the Inquisition in the year 1600 Velvet and warm sweat under the torches the Procession entered the city, tall bronze men on the bronze great horses and the boys carrying banners, the … Continue reading
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April 2008 – Four Poems By James Ryan Morris
She Said there is a time for us, & a place for that – the poem. such conflict, between the lady & the poem that separation is today, we look one at the other, both aware that in the final … Continue reading
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April 2008 – The Venice Beat Poets – The Great River Outside The Mainstream – James Ryan Morris
By Shanna Moore Winter of 1959 and the boardwalk was bare, riding my bicycle along the boardwalk from Santa Monica down the coast. I’d stop at the Carousel, a gay bar on the Venice boardwalk where all the dudes and … Continue reading
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March 2008 – The Venice Beat Poets – The Great River Outside The Mainstream – Philomene Long
By Jim Smith Philomene Long came late to the party, but she soon made up for lost time with her dynamic personality and soaring poetry. The Beat scene was a decade old when she arrived in Venice, but Long gave … Continue reading
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March 2008 – Philomene Long’s Cold Ellison I
“Cold Ellison,” the apartment building on Paloma Avenue where she and John Thomas lived, became a theme of a number of Long’s poems. Cold Ellison I By Philomene Long “Cold cliffs more beautiful The deeper you enter Yet no one … Continue reading
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February 2008 – Interview with Venice Poet Frank T. Rios, Part 2
Part 2 (see January Beachhead for Part 1) By Hillary Kaye Beachhead: Is there anything else about Philomene Long you’d like to share? Frankie: When she did The Beats, An Existentialist Comedy, I was involved in that. She was … Continue reading
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February 2008 – The Venice Beat Poets – The Great River Outside The Mainstream – John Thomas
By Jim Smith Charles Bukowski – who should know – called John Thomas, “The best unread poet in America. He is the invisible genius of American poetry.” Referring to John Thomas when he died, the London Independent quoted Lawrence Lipton, … Continue reading
Filed under Jim Smith, Poetry, The Venice Beat Poets
