bush government hides truth


Sean Scully, Niels, 2001

ask me now
-- by John Sinclair

for edward sanders

standing at the finish line
of the boston marathon
in the middle of april

when americans pay their taxes
under penalty of seizure
or imprisonment,

thinking about boston harbor
where the american patriots
dressed up like natives

& stormed the british ships
to throw overboard
the hated crates of tea—

on this patriots day
at the end of a long & difficult run
let us rededicate ourselves

to the freedom & justice
our ancestors intended
when they founded this nation

& fought here in boston
& throughout new england
for the freedom of our country

& the right
to govern ourselves
as best we can, for better

or for worse,
however imperfect
or misguided—oh

let these truths
be self-evident,
that we shall be free to worship

as we may see fit,
that there are many people
& they have many different gods,

that what may be fit for you
just might not work for me
but let us live in peace together

& let us share our riches
with those among us
who have none,

& let the future of our nation
be secured by the intelligence
& creativity,

by the compassion
& commitment of our citizens
to the future of humanity itself

& to all people everywhere
who toil with us
here on earth, to make a living

for ourselves & our families,
to enjoy the fruits
of our labors, & fully partake

in the pleasures of life,
liberty.
& the pursuit of happiness,

in whatever forms
it may present to us
for our enrichment

while we exercise the freedoms
guaranteed by our constitution—
to be free from armed invaders

in the comfort of our homes,
free to say or believe in
anything we might want to,

free to meet & mingle
with our friends, whomsoever
they may be,

free to get as high
as we want to, & enjoy all the substances
our happiness may require,

free to dance & sing,
free to make love with
whomsoever we may please,

free to have children
or not have children
as we may see fit,

free to live outside ‘the dictates
of conventional society’
like true americans,

open-minded,
humanitarian,
tolerant of the differences between us,

quick to accept,
slow to anger,
loath to harm or destroy—

so let the word go forth
from boston today: yes, let us re-
dedicate ourselves

to the freedom & justice
our ancestors intended
when they founded this great nation

Two Selections from Ed Sander's bio in verse of Allen Ginsberg:

The Record Plant Sessions

This led to some memorable recording sessions beginning on November 9, 1971 at the Record Plant in NYC

Dylan brought a pal from woodstock with him the singer/guitarist Happy Traum also in on the session were Jon Sholle, David Amram, Ginsberg, and a number of poets including Gregory Corso, the Russian bard Andrei Voznesensky, and others

The filmmaker Barbara Rubin was on hand
and I was there too
my book on the Manson group, the family, had just been published

I remember someone was playing on a milk crate with wires stretched across it like a psychedelic psaltery.

There was a second session on November 17 Allen improvised an early version of "CIA Dope Calypso"
with Dylan on guitar

There were other tunes, including "going to san diego,"
an anthem urging
everybody to go to san diego
and protest Richard Nixon
(after Kent State and the secret bombing of Cambodia) --san diego was at that time the site of the Republican Convention though later it was moved to Miami Beach

They also recorded Allen's "September on Jessore Road"
which he was just putting in final form
in these temporary moments
in the quick flow of the Seventies

Early 1982

At Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland studio
on 8th St. in the Village
the Clash were recording

Ginsberg spent a few days with them
helped them write three or four tunes
His suggestions they tested
on empty tracks
to gauge their floow

The bard loved the ambience of
successful rockers
and couldn't resist the urge to teach
bringing Gregory Corso's newest book for instance,
and the City Lights classic Clean Asshole Poems by
Petere Orlovsky.

The album was called Combat Rock
and the bard, not always so modest
did not ask for
publishing royalties on the
tunes he helped doctor.


* reminder The Foreign Press play Warehouse Nextdoor (7th and Mass., nw, wdc) Sunday @ 9:00.