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On Viewing the
Manuscript Scroll
of Jack Kerouac's Novel On the Road
in the Tosca Bar, San Francisco
Lying in state, under glass,
partially unrolled to reveal
flood of words describ'd
Mississippi River near New Orleans
1947---an American Shroud,
Davia Nelson called it, like
the Shroud of Turin, holy remnant
of modern Literature, naively
woven tapestry---
Kerouac would have lov'd
this, I think, his own worn
Shrouded Stranger, well-travel'd,
displayed for religious purpose,
himself collapsed Catholic Buddhist
pilgrim in constant search
for the Sacred, sanctified today
here in sere mute Tosca cathedral
light, lone silver'd stream of sun,
God's finger pointed toward window
sarcophagus casket containing
phantom tome brought out by hand
half-century before by Jack Kerouac
from America's burning Egyptian heart.
10 May 2001
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Small Elegy for
Corso
to Fernanda Pivano
Gregory Corso's buried in Rome
a few weeks ago next to Shelley
in an acattòlico cemetery in Testaccio
Sitting on a bench in the Piazza Cavour
I recall Nanda telling me last December
Gregory had his balls cut off
"I don't care," he told her, "I fucked enough."
Now at twilight in the Quartiere Prati
watching rich women walk big dogs
past palm trees under plum-colored sky
suddenly there's Corso ten years ago or more
at a baseball game in San Francisco
shouting at a player, "Pull up your pants!
It's a disgrace to the uniform!"
Three rows in front I looked around,
"Gregory," I said, "what happened to
your teeth?" "They're gone!" he said
"Who needs teeth after fifty?"
We met again at a wedding in Bolinas
Quietly he told me how secretly he
envied Kerouac having died so young,
only 47. "If only he could have enjoyed
himself more, but he was always drunk."
O Gregory, may you take eternity for all
it's worth, the same as you captured
your time on earth, knowing all along
there was nothing real to lose.
Roll over, Captain Poetry,
tell old Percy the news.
25 May 2001
Barry Gifford is a poet, novelist, essayist,
and critic; his writing has appeared in a multitude
of publications including Esquire,
Rolling Stone, the New York Times,
and the New York Times Book Review. He is
the author of at least fifteen books of fiction,
including Wild at Heart, which was made into
an award-winning film directed by David Lynch, and
he co-wrote the film Lost Highway with
Lynch. Barry Gifford's new poetry book is
Replies to Wang Wei; his other recent books
include The Phantom Father, a memoir;
Wyoming, short stories, and Out of the
Past: Adventures in Film Noir.
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