Giving new meaning to Beat Poetry…

I don’t profess to know a lot about poetry. I know it often rhymes and it’s got a meter. I know that it’s possible to memorize and recite it, although I’ve never been prone to such behavior. I know that when I was in school and had a teacher/professor practically holding my hand through the reading of a poem, I occasionally felt inspired. But not enough to give up reading novels and sports and music biographies in favor of poetry. William Blake‘s Songs of Innocence and Experience lead my small collection of poetry volumes. I wish more poetry hit me as directly as that stuff does. I can see why rockers and poets have tried to work together over the years.

Although poets have attempted to collaborate with rockers for some time, the difficulty of these forms merging hit me squarely when The Clash and Allen Ginsberg teamed to bring us “Ghetto Defendant”, from the as-if-it-was-not-already-disappointing enough Combat Rock.

The Clash with Allen Ginsberg, “Ghetto Defendant”

More on Mr. Ginsberg in a bit. Before moving forward, it’s important we distinguish between Rockers Who Poet and Poets Who Rock.