“To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.” Sylvia Plath A fierce and brilliant poet, whose slim volume Ariel burns with supernal darkness like the Tiger of William Blake, Sylvia Plath stirs a cauldron of hate and love, fear and … Continue reading Sylvia Plath, on her birthday October 27 2021 revision
“I want to see in a new way;” with these words Pablo Picasso created the modern world, and affirmed the timeless power of poetic vision in the reimagination and transformation of the world, our civilization, and the limitless possibilities of becoming human. On the first day each year of Forensics class I began by … Continue reading Pablo Picasso, on his birthday October 25
So, the Id, the Ego, and the Superego take a stroll across America, and the guy they’re all riding around in writes it all down. This is John Berryman’s The Dreamsongs, a three-part stream of consciousness dialog about the stray bric-a-brac in the gutters of our culture, erratum, trivialities, nameless bestial urges without … Continue reading John Berryman, on his birthday October 25 2021 revision
A visionary poetry of ethereal, impassioned glorias of nature and the Infinite, vivid and strange reimaginations of fairytales and myths (her poem An Embroidery about Rose Red has haunted my dreams for decades), and of the values immanent in nature and of the struggle for meaning in a fallen world; Denise Levertov forged a … Continue reading Denise Levertov, on her birthday October 24 2021 revision
Surrealism, eroticisms and terrors, rapture and despair, Philip Lamantia’s poetry was inspired by the art of Dali and Miro and mentored by his friends Andre Breton and Max Ernst, and in turn directly inspired Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. As the American champion of French Surrealism and Joycean stream of consciousness writing, Philip Lamantia influenced the … Continue reading Philip Lamantia, on his birthday October 23 2021 revision
Poet-philosopher, Neo-Platonic Idealist, religious scholar, and key figure of the Romantic Tradition, Samuel Taylor Coleridge has given the world some of our greatest literature, including the monumental Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. I heard a lot about Coleridge, his philosophy of Imagination, and his idea of Logos as a unifying principle as a … Continue reading Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on his birthday October 21 2021 revision
Alcoholism and addiction as metaphor and force of dehumanization, subsuming all human relations into a consumer fetishism of poisoned desires; the tyranny of history, a descent into madness and chaos, with a basketfull of lies, rages, jealousies, and a chorus of sins; the plays of Eugene O’Neil blend Tennessee Williams with Samuel Beckett and throw … Continue reading Eugene O’Neil, on his birthday October 16 2021 revision
All those who champion the autonomy of individuals in struggle against the tyranny of other people, who question, expose, mock, and challenge authority, and who democratize social power in transgression of the Forbidden and the violation of normality, I salute you. Regarding Seizures of Identity: the Transgressive Arts of Beardsley & Wilde; the … Continue reading Oscar Wilde, on his birthday October 16 2021 revision
Songs of survival, transformation, and rebirth which describe the malaise of disconnectedness and the authorized power of the state which poisons and unleashes the self-destruction of our civilization in the Second World War, and also of the recreation of civilization through our common humanity; Gunter Grass has forged a national character for postwar Germany, … Continue reading Gunter Grass, on his birthday October 16 2021 revision
Nietzsche who awakens, Nietzsche who challenges, Nietzsche who illuminates and inspires; these are the three Nietzsche’s who have been my companions throughout life, my guides and muses, and whom I offer you as a Song of Orpheus and Ariadne’s Thread whereby to find your way through the labyrinth of life. Protean in his … Continue reading Friedrich Nietzsche, on his birthday October 15, 2021 Revision
Dollhouse Park Conservatory & Imaginarium 