Selected Poems 1947-1995

Don't let the cheesy cover bug you. Selected Poems contains the vast majority of all the Ginsberg you'll ever want. You got classics like Pull My Daisy, Howl, America, Kaddish, This Form of Life Needs Sex, Wales Visitation, Elegy for Neal Cassady, Cosmopolitan Greetings, etc. However, you are still missing numerous gems that you'll only find in the Collected Poems or original City Lights books. Some poems I would have included: Laughing Gas, Lysergic Acid, Mescaline, Holy Ghost on the Nod Over the Body of Bliss, Flash Back, Ode to Failure, and Spot Anger. And Memory Gardens (elegy for Kerouac) is abridged for some reason, even though it's not a long poem. And only 3 poems from his final book Death & Fame are included. For those that don't want to lug around the massive 1200-page Collected Poems, this is a great collection.

Ginsberg writes in the forward he has consulted fellow verse men. The collection encompasses the entire career. Son of a poet, he is an accomplished writer of poetry early in his career as evidenced by "The Shrouded Stranger". Ginsberg used craft to control emotion and outrage and harness his imagination in, for instance, "Siesta in Xbalba". He was very concerned to assist the reader by placing words on the page carefully. HOWL is dedicated to Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Neal Cassady. Ginsberg's images have seeped into our language. It is no surprise to run into sutra, neon-lit, angel, holy, visions, omens, hallucinations. His great predecessor Walt Whitman is cited. Surely one of the century's greatest poems is Ginsberg's poem to his mother, KADDISH. The mother, Naomi, his father, Louis, his brother, Eugene, his home, Paterson, are all featured in the work. Ginsberg wrote in remembrance of Frank O'Hara, chatty prophet and poet of building glass. The Cedar Bar is empty without him it is asserted. The Bob Dylan influenced "September in Jessore Road" is topical and one of the poems provided with musical accompaniment. In 'Ego Confession" Ginsberg wants to be known as the most brilliant man in America. Certainly he was a titan. The "Plutonian Ode" mockingly lists places corrupted by radioactivity. In the end the poet chimes that he dreamed a dream of homeless places. The poem GREEN AUTOMOBILE is addressed to Neal Cassady and it is emblematic of the whole collection. Notes in the back contain pictures of friends and notable subjects. A touching picture of Allen, Louis and Naomi at the 1940 World's Fair is included.

It is daunting to undertake the review of a book of Allen Ginsberg's poems. If fact, it is impossible. The extent of his talent, his willingness to experiment, the number of broad themes that run through his work, defy any four-paragraph explication. This collection of poems, selected and edited by Ginsberg himself is really the poet's last oversight of his own life. In four hundred pages covering nearly fifty years we are given not a collection of poetry, but an interior autobiography.Ginsberg died in 1997, of the complications of Hepatitis C, the same year I discovered that I was suffering from the same disease. His death was untimely, not in the sense that he died too young, but because his creativity, the unique vision that allowed him to be critical, sarcastic, caring and brutally honest had not yet exhausted itself. 'Selected Poems' captures his many facets, from the anger of 'Howl' to the whimsy of 'The Ballad of the Skeletons.' One of my favorites is the simply early 'Song' that opens with "The weight of the world is love." This is the poem that circulated the Internet when he died.Ginsberg is often perceived as a political or social poet, voicing first the concerns of the Beats and then the Anti-War movement. He is always questioning the motivation of those in authority, and those that were not as well. This collection also explores his open homosexuality and his long spiritual quest. Ginsberg's poetry is himself. For all his technical brilliance, what we remember in the reading is the intensity of his presence in his poems. Filled with knowledge, Ginsberg was not the kind to resort to academicism.'Selected Poems' is a lean presentation. A short preface by Ginsberg leads off; followed by poems in order by appearance, arranged by the volumes they appeared in. A section at the end contains fragmentary notes and comments by the poet on the individual poems. Yet I am happy that I have this volume of his work rather than something more complete. For this is the work that Ginsberg, in retrospect, felt was important, and I think you will agree. As the poet said, "I didn't come here to solve anything. I came here to sing and for you to sing with me."

Regardless of your feelings about his political and religious beliefs, can you deny that Allen Ginsburg was one of the most honest of all American Men of Letters? If only all men and women were able to confront themselves as honestly and as purely as Allen did our culture would extend to much greater heights. Enjoy these poems and find within them a man who spent his entire life describing his pains and his ecstasies, and by extension the pains and pleasures of America in the late 20th Century.

There are several books out there filled with Ginsbergs ponderings (I've looked at most of them)... so why pick this one? For one... this collection spans 48 years of A. Ginsberg's work. Highlighting poetry that the author selected personally. Sure here you will find the ever famous "Howl", "Sunflower Sutra" and "America" as well as, "Elegy for Neal Cassady" which was written by Ginsberg shortly after hearing of his long time friend's death. However, where many of these sort of books highlight one particular phase the author has gone through (like a gallery showing of only Picasso's blue phase) this tome lets the reader experience the entire Ginsberg. I highly suggest this book for anyone who is interested in getting to know Ginsberg and in experiencing his greatness which spanned over 48 years (longer then his friend Kerouac was on the planet).