A personal journal about teaching the Bible and ancient Near Eastern history/theology/religion/archaeology to university students in New Orleans, and whatever else happens to be on my mind.
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
"America When Will You Be Angelic?"
A student today in class said she read Allen Ginsberg's poem America, and she thought of me. That made my day.
Hmmm. Now I'm going to have to go pull my copy of Kaddish off the shelf and figure out Why Not Kaddish? Was it the poem, or the juncture of the poem and his father's passing?
"America the plum blossoms are falling" puts me in mind that the cherry blossoms have probaby just passed in DC, which makes me think of Jourma Kaukoken's comment on the back of the Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers: "Why don't the Pentacles keep their evil spirits away?"
Not Howl? Interesting...
ReplyDeleteHere I've been giving people copies of Howl for years, and no one has ever said anything like that to me. What a compliment.
ReplyDeleteWaaay cool.
ReplyDeleteAt least it wasn't "Kaddish".
Hmmm. Now I'm going to have to go pull my copy of Kaddish off the shelf and figure out Why Not Kaddish? Was it the poem, or the juncture of the poem and his father's passing?
ReplyDelete"America the plum blossoms are falling" puts me in mind that the cherry blossoms have probaby just passed in DC, which makes me think of Jourma Kaukoken's comment on the back of the Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers: "Why don't the Pentacles keep their evil spirits away?"
Damn. Found this checking to make sure it was Kaukoken's quote. And I found myself. What a strange circular world. You should repost this on the 4th.
ReplyDeleteI have America around here somewhere, and no inclination to sleep. I think I know what I'm doing for the rest of the evening, and some of the morning.