Beatnik Lords Of Orbital

"Peebles in the sky..." Holy f-ing wow! beats, "Diamonds in the sky with Lucy" Wiat, you will be a beatle for sure...

Hi Jim, I had to read this one a couple of times to let it all sink in, think I'm all 'spaced out' ; ) You've got some incredible lines though ('out here on the threshold of forever') that would be sumblime on their own even. Personally, there's something about space that not necessarily fascinates me but frightens me because, well, it's, infinite of course.. and the penultimate stanza describes that immensity for me. I love the umbilical imagery, where it's warm and safe again. Feel free to correct any weird conclusions I might have drawn ; ) ~Stella

I must admit, firstly, that I come to your poems with fear and trepidation. I find them to be a higher, more intelligent quality than I can wrap my fingers around. So if my comments are way off base, that may be why. That said, my only observation is that I'm not sure that "beatnik" is the proper thing to have in the title if you're trying to convey style. I spent alot of time studying the beat poets, and while you capture their spirit good with the lines "if you regard slow turn of planet with nothing but a suit that separates warm living flesh from freezing interstellar death your body starts to realize there’s not a thing behind your back but endless fall to far-flung rim of heaven’s end" the rest isn't really "beat". Thatline is pure Kerouac, pure Ginsberg.The rest tries, but I think gets wrapped up in the "jive." A hallmark of beat poetry is that it very closely resembles jazz in its construct. This poem, while intelligent, witty, and clever does not have that "feel" to me. Mark W. P.S. Did you know the the term "beatnik" was originally an insult? The term was "Beat poet," the "nik" was added on in reference to the Russian satellite Sputnik. In other words, if you called a beat a beatnik, you were saying they were a commie. Kerouac hated the term. p.p.s you know what this DOES remind me of? "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys, lol! (hey, I love the Beasties, so that's excellent!) Galatians 5:22-23 "22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against these, there is no law!" My favorite verse(s) in the Bible

This one I love. ETA's, something I know altogether too much about. My mind grows smooth as glass with crushing emptiness way too often; and hours idling into blurring days isn't, for me at times, even metaphor, but the life of long haul trucker. Sometimes while driving through Wyoming on a full moon night, I can string myself from open lock out into silent grip of space. . . for slow hours at a distant time. I much prefer reading this dreamy style than the serious stuff, although, I respect almost all of your work. Yours, Deelilah

and here's to old lives; But Race was kinda, well, racey. I respect all your work--it's just that werewolves and the likes give me the creeps; however, I do like space aliens. Deelilah

I just finished reading a book called Bukowski and the Beats (or something like that) and your poem just fit right it with it. Ferlenghetti, McClure, they'd all be proud.... ~Jess K. ---------------------------------------------------- -"All day and night music, a quiet, bright reedsong. If it fades, we fade." - Rumi