| -2/4/04
- Poems - (Selected Poems)
Lew Welch met Gary Snyder and Philip Whelan at Reed College in Oregon.
While Lew did not share Gary and Philip's Bhuddism, he was very literate
and became fascinated with Gertrude Stein's experimental poetry. Gary
and Philip participated in the famous Six Gallery poetry reading that
launched Ginsberg and Howl. Lew was in Chicago at the time and therefore
missed the event.
Lew was the hard drinking Dave Wain in Kerouac's Big Sur, matching Jack
drink for drink, although by the end of the novel he eventually tells
Jack they both should stop drinking.
Lew apparently committed suicide in May, 1971 while living at Gary Snyder's
place. He took a walk, never came back and his body was never found. He
left a note that Gary found indicating the $2,000 he had in the bank should
be used to cover his affairs.
And Lew could WRITE!!
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PASSENGER POEM, THE NURSE
I don't like cats kittens are all right I guess
you can love 'em when they're little, like people,
but then they grow up and take advantage of you
and how can you love 'em anymore?
---
I KNOW A MAN'S SUPPOSED TO HAVE HIS HAIR CUT SHORT
I know a man's supposed to have his hair cut short,
but I have beautiful hair.
I like to let it grow into a long bronze mane.
In my boots. In my blue wool shirt.
With my rifle slung over my shoulder
among huge boulders in the dark ravine,
I'm the ghost roan stallion.
Leif Ericson.
The beautiful Golden Girl!
In summer I usually cut it all off.
I do it myself, with scissors and a
little Jim Beam.
How disappointed everybody is.
Months and months go by before they can
worry about my hairdo
and the breeze
is so cool
---
WHENEVER I MAKE A NEW POEM
Whenever I make a new poem,
the old ones sound like gibberish.
How can they ever make sense in a book?
Let them say:
"He seems to have lived in the mountains.
He traveled now and then.
When he appeared in cities,
he was almost always drunk.
"Most of his poems are lost.
Many of those we have were found in
letters to his friends.
"He had a very large number of friends."
---
I SAW MYSELF
I saw myself
a ring of bone
in the clear stream
of all of it
and vowed,
always to be open to it
that all of it
might flow through
and then heard
"ring of bone" where
ring is what a
bell does
All from:
Lew Welch
Selected Poems
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