An oblique path into a discussion of poetry, maybe, but this column by The NYT's Gail Collins is worth the obliquity. I was too young to be there for the reading at UW-Milwaukee, and still too young even to understand the issue, but I wish I could have seen Ginsberg at that particular event.
I did see him many years later, in the 1990s, at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, which blazed a path for the city by instituting a first-class visiting poet program for a few years. By then, of course, Ginsberg was a rock star, almost literally (he was like a front man for the Clash), and drew a SRO crowd for the reading. Except in that venue and thanks to the Center's hip egalitarian thinking, SRO meant Sitting Room Only -- they cleared their largest gallery, no seats, no VIP passes, no patron boxes, and let everybody camp out on the floor, with Ginsberg up on a raised stage, sitting lotus.
Cool! I estimated 500-600 people in the audience. And, man, it was a ruckus! And raucous! And Ginsberg loved it.
Anyway, I'm with Columnist Collins: kudos to Congress and the President for creating a Supreme Court-proof law. Finally.
Now, onto poetry and guns . . .
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