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MemBabe:hello
MemBabe:thanks for stopping in
Trigilio: Hi--just two folks on right now?  I thought this room would be jammed
MemBabe:i'm diane/45/seattle
MemBabe:people will show...
Trigilio:Tony/31/Boston
MemBabe:they come and go
MemBabe:hi, tony
MemBabe:i've read your stuff on beat-l
Trigilio:I guess--I'm not on AOL much, so I don't know
Trigilio:Thanks--and thanks for announcing this room on beat-l.  It was nice to get back on that list
MemBabe:i set up a 2-hour window so people could spend as much or as little time here as they needed to
MemBabe:yeah. this room has been a great place for people for the last few months
MemBabe:we have a format, and a special format for today.
MemBabe:we let people talk as long as they want to, then when they finish,
they type in "go" and anyone else can take the floor
MemBabe:on these occasions, like jack's wake and allen's celebration, people will probably read poems and passages
MemBabe:things that mean something to them and when finished, they'll say go
MemBabe:it's a beautiful way to talk and listen. okay with you? go
Trigilio:This sounds great.  The news of Allen's death came so abruptly that this seems like a great
Trigilio:way to listen and commune with people who are just as startled by the news. go
MemBabe:yes, it is.
MemBabe:hello, jeff
BeatRyder:Good morning
MemBabe:this is tony, 31, boston
Trigilio:Good morning
BeatRyder:Hi, Tony
BeatRyder:<----22, Hudson NH
MemBabe:i just explained the format to tony... reading, speaking, saying go....
BeatRyder:okay
MemBabe:i see others are coming in in a moment
MemBabe:hello, dick
MemBabe:you know jeff, right? beatryder?
Dharmab366:Good morning
MemBabe:and triglio is tony, 31, boston
BeatRyder::) it's been awhile...
MemBabe:dick, thanks for coming.
MemBabe:would anyone like to begin? go
BeatRyder:I would like to take the time, here, to recite "Howl"
MemBabe:that sounds groovy. go
BeatRyder:well, some of it LOL
BeatRyder:I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,
starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the
BeatRyder:machinery of the night....
BeatRyder:go
Trigilio:I'd like to read the last few lines of Kaddish From the scene he creates from Naomi's funeral
Caw caw the call of Time rent out of foot and wing an instant in the universe
Lord Lord an echo in the sky the wind through ragged leaves the roar of memory
caw caw all years my birth a dream caw caw New York the bus the broken shoe
the vast highschool caw caw all Visions of the Lord
Lord Lord Lord caw caw caw Lord Lord Lord caw caw caw Lord
Trigilio:go
MemBabe:thanks, tony
MemBabe:I have a message from dick, who just left:
I have to go. I just wanted to say hello. This is such a sad day for me....I'm going to take my guitar and go down to the ocean and sing of Allen...
MemBabe:I've been taking stuff off beat-l this morning, for people who can't be here:
MemBabe:from beat@SKY.NET
"The weight of the world
is love.
Under the burden
of solitude,
under the burden
the weight,
the weight we carry
is love."
--Allen Ginsberg
MemBabe:and here's something from the Tao:
The universe is sacred.
You cannot improve it.
If you try to change it, you will ruin it.
If you try to hold it, you will lose it.
So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes
they are behind;
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it
comes easily;
Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness;
Sometimes one is up and sometimes down.
===end
MemBabe:sorry i'm so slow;my fingers are trembling go
MemBabe:hello, john
Kirouack:hello diane...
Kirouack:hello everyone...
Trigilio:Great--thanks diane
MemBabe:introduce... diane/45/seattle
BeatRyder:hello
Trigilio:hello, john
BeatRyder:Jeff, 22, Hudson NH/Lowell MA
Kirouack:john/a very young 44/ raleigh nc
BeatRyder:LOL
Trigilio:tony/31/boston
MemBabe:indeed... and yet i can attest to this fact, kirouack...
Kirouack::)
MemBabe:we're doing this routine, john; reading, sharing, saying go when done....
MemBabe:we have all shared. would you like to? go
Kirouack:yeah ok...i've made that list diane...i'm getting so many messages
Kirouack:it's nice to see that people are coming together...
Kirouack:and rejoicing in allen's life...
Kirouack:everyonce in a while i find myself sad...then i'll think
Kirouack:"later for this..."   and think of all the good things ginsberg
did in his life... go
MemBabe:jeff and i were talking earlier today and i was telling him about this story lead all the reporters use when trying to sound eloquent
MemBabe:"Death has claimed the life of Beat poet laureate Allen Ginsberg"
MemBabe:and i was thinking, no way
MemBabe:his life was claimed long ago by the people who loved him. go
Trigilio:Nicely put, Diane.  Also--when you think about Allen's Buddhist practice,
Trigilio:and when you think about the many meditations on death in his poems,
Trigilio:maybe it's better to think that he claimed death . . . a long time ago. go
MemBabe:nice spin, tony...
MemBabe:i have a poem sent by someone who can't be here today. I'd like to read it for him
MemBabe:from SteveG1955, Steve Gardner, in Bloomington:
Every man knows that death is his friend and comrade,
That all love passes, all security is false;
Golden October leaves, what are they but messengers of death?
Mother nursing child, what is it but the birth of loss?
Western colors past the glory of sycamores, what are they but the tomb of day?
See the progeny one reared from the nest,
See the suffering that is a gift of divinity,
See the lovely 3-year-old walking with her father to the carousel, see their calm and confident trust.
Now see the renunciation that even the most
savage beast makes to protect its
young,
The gift of flesh taken from his own side out of love for his offspring,
The Deity-blessing through stratosphere down to molasses-ride through Fallopian tubes
To hope for more than what any sad world can offer,
See the radiance of adoration which is a parent's reward, and then see the end of all this:
Dissolution and its minions rule every born thing,
What lies beyond, what mad poets preach but cannot live,
See the devotion of  mothers, at any cost;
See how it returns whence it came,
The end of softball, cessation of shopping,
Termination of money, finale of work,
The vanishing of misery, that was always an evanescent phantom.
See that something remains, in the love of compatriots that carries beyond the 
sepulchre
An essence that slides past hard edges and little mercy,
And stays untouched amidst wrenching departures,
And proves its magic with a weeping that waters graves.
-Steve Gardner
-written 7/19/96; rededicated to Allen Ginsberg, 4/6/97
MemBabe:go
Kirouack:thanks for sharing that with us diane...nice poem...
BeatRyder:nice vivid imagery
Trigilio:Thanks--I especially liked the final image.
BeatRyder:on the "Mother nursing child..." part
MemBabe:I'll let Steve know.... thanks to all of you for your comments. go...
Kirouack:i thought of writing something...since allen's passed over...but the words are coming slowly or not at all...so maybe i'll wait…
Kirouack:i was listening to my Holy Soul Jelly Roll CD collection last night...
Kirouack:and while listening to "Gospel noble truths"...i finally understood what he "really" meant by it...
Kirouack:life is "quite simple"  really....go
MemBabe:Welcome....
MemBabe:thanks for coming
Ethiopium:Thanks for getting me here.
MemBabe:i'm diane/45/seattle
Kirouack:john/44/raleigh
BeatRyder:Jeff/22/somewhere near Lowell
Trigilio:Tony/31/Boston
Ethiopium:Mary 49 Providence
MemBabe:we have a simple format, mary
MemBabe:we talk, others listen, when the speaker is finished, he/she says "go"
Ethiopium:Fine
MemBabe:and today we may read poetry, passages, scripture... whatever. go
BeatRyder:it seems so ironic, i was just contemplating the fragility of life with a friend yesterday
BeatRyder:kicking over a stone from atop a farmer's wall...a stone likely untouched for a hundred years.... go
MemBabe:ah, on that note.... i have something.
MemBabe:i was sharing this with john in a letter the other day... something allen said that touched me
MemBabe:From Shambayla magazine
MemBabe:he had just finished masturbating, and stepped up to a window in a bulding in Harlem:
I can't interpret it exactly now, but the impression that I had at the time was of some infinite yearning for the infinite, finally realized, and I looked out the window and began to notice the extraordinary detail of intelligent labor that had gone into the making of the rooftop cornices of the Harlem buildings. And I suddenly realized that the world was, in a sense, not dead matter, but an increment or deposit of living intelligence and action :and activity that finally took form-the Italian laborers of 1890 and 1910, making very fine copper work and roofcomb ornament as you find :along the older tenement apartment buildings.
MemBabe:And as I looked at the sky I wondered what kind of intelligence had made that vastness, or what was the nature of the intelligence that I was glimpsing, and felt a sense of vastness and of coming home to a space I hadn't realized was there before but which seemed old and infinite, like the ancient of Days, so to speak.
==== end
MemBabe:that really spoke to me. Go
Trigilio:Diane, do you know what issue of Shambala this is from?  I've seen this vision paraphrased y others, but the direct words from him were excellent.  Thanks.
MemBabe:tony, i'll send you the electronic link.... go
Trigilio:Great--I'll look forward to it.
Ethiopium:Im' having a party today. I have apicture of Allen up and a candle burnig. I also practice Tibetan Buddhism, it seems good to have a party here with his picture up.
Ethiopium:I feel as sad as if someone in my family had died.
Ethiopium:I was surprised by the intensity of my reaction.
Ethiopium:I really can't imagine the world without Allen in it.
Ethiopium:I wish I had gone to the Tibet house bebefit. But I've seen him a number of times, and he always eally touched me deeply. No arrogance, total sincerity. go
BeatRyder:At least he wrote 'till the end, rather than living off of his past brilliance...go
Trigilio:Mary, we had a Medicine Buddha initiation yesterday at the Kurukulla Center in Boston, and I worked hard to keep Allen in the forefront of my mind.  Then a few hours later I got the word that he had died--actually died hours before the ceremony.
Trigilio:The feeling was familial, like you said you felt.  I just resolved to keep him in my mind,
Trigilio:because in this after-death state, he might need our prayers the most. go
Trigilio:Check that--"appreciate" is a better word than "need"
Ethiopium:The Tibetan book of the dead is handy, it lists prayers for a souls sucessful crossing the Bardo.
MemBabe:welcome, rimbaud.
MemBabe:diane/45/seattle
GoRimbaud:greetings!
Ethiopium:Hi Phillip.
GoRimbaud:morning, mary mary
MemBabe:introductions?
Trigilio:I read Sogyal Rinpoche's translation last night, and it was appropriate.  Go
GoRimbaud:phillip in nyc
Trigilio:Tony/31/Boston
Ethiopium:Mary 49 Providence
BeatRyder:Jeff, 22, greater Lowell area
MemBabe:okay...
GoRimbaud:so, how are we folk going to begin celebrating the life of this buddhapoet?
MemBabe:phillip, we have a format, where we talk, others listen, and when the speaker is finished, he/she types in the word "go"
GoRimbaud:not a problem.
MemBabe:today, we're reading poetry, passages, scripture, and talking/sharing. go
MemBabe:[silence is also good]
GoRimbaud:It is the moon that disappears/It is the stars that hide not I/It's the City that vanishes,
GoRimbaud:I sta/with my forgotten shoes,/my invisible stocking/It is the call of a bell
GoRimbaud:Primrose hill, May 1965
GoRimbaud:GURU. go
BeatRyder:John, i just wanted to say great book (Visions of Lowell) - it was like the book of my childhood
BeatRyder:Unfortunately, I have to go...thanks for sharing everyone.. take care...go
MemBabe:jeff, thanks for being here
Kirouack:jeff...wait...the pleasure was mine...
Trigilio:Bye, Jeff.
Kirouack:i can't tell you how much i enjoyed putting that book together...
BeatRyder:i found it wonderful, so much has changed, yet is the same...bye
BeatRyder::)
Kirouack:i hope some of that joy came through...:)
Kirouack:peace to all...and thank you God...for sending Allen Ginsberg to us all...
Kirouack:see ya...
MemBabe:bye, john. thanks for being here.
Kirouack:bye...
Trigilio:Bye, John--
Ethiopium:bye john
GoRimbaud:bye
Kirouack:please visit BG again...all of you...we have some great conversation here....
MemBabe:<----- wants to listen... anyone, go
GoRimbaud:when i learned of ginzy's passing my heart pounded and all i could do was pull out his books and start reading whatever page flipped open. then i had to play piano to soothe my eyes and had to write a few lines. his death truly bothers me. yet i know that death is just a continuation of a cycle. he was a fine teacher and will be missed, yet :thankfully we have his writings and his voice to continue his force. go
MemBabe:said like the christians say it: accept allen as your personal savior
MemBabe:let him come into your heart right now
MemBabe:amen and amen forever. go
GoRimbaud::^)
Ethiopium:The time has come when he must go, friendless and alone. Therefore may you compassionate ones please give refugeto this helpless one named Allen. Protect him. Be his ally. Save hin from the great darkness of the inbetween. O compassionate ones, don't hold back your compassion. bow - go.
MemBabe:beautiful. hello, seward
MemBabe:diane/45/seattle
Ethiopium:Hi Seward Mary/49/providence
Seward23:hi
Trigilio:Thank you, Mary.  Is this one of the prayers from the Tibetan Book of the Dead?
Trigilio:I'm asking because I just looked at my translation, and saw that it has no prayers, just commentary.  Can you post another prayer?  Thanks. go
Ethiopium:Yeah, that's from the book of the dead.
MemBabe:james, we have a format here where one talks, the rest listen, and when the speaker is finished, he/she says "go"
MemBabe:today we're sharing joy, sorrow, poems, passages, scriptures for allen. go
Seward23:I can't stay long - just wanted everyone to know that William Burroughs is going to be alright
MemBabe:say more.... i don't know what you mean. go
Seward23:he is sad but he talked with Allen just the day before, and gained strength from that
Seward23:he is well physically - went target shooting with friends yesterday
Seward23:so I just wanted to pass that on. go
MemBabe:thanks, james. how did you know this? go
GoRimbaud:thanks seward23 go
Seward23:I am a friend of William   go
MemBabe:thank you for coming, james. stay until you have to leave. go
MemBabe:<---- going to get my Tanakh, to read from Isaiah... go
Seward23:you can spread the word - William lives - we are spending time remembering our years with Allen
Seward23:I must signoff - om svaha - go
GoRimbaud:did anyone do anything special yesterday to celebrate allen's life? go
GoRimbaud:bye seward23 go
MemBabe:nothing here... we had scheduled this chat while allen was still alive
MemBabe:yesterday, everyone seemed devastated. go
Ethiopium:Lots of people were devastated. go
GoRimbaud:still am. 
GoRimbaud:i had to celebrate somehow and wrote lines of poetry and played
his music and took photographs of the day. i had to do something to gather my tears. go
Ethiopium:I'm sorry, I must get to the store becaus I am having a party today. Let's keep him in our thoughts & prayers. He's going to be with us anyway. His work and spirit will never leave. Thanks guys. Have a g
MemBabe:thank you for coming, mary.... i'll send a copy of this chat to all who attended
MemBabe:i'm trying to find a passage i want to read. go
Trigilio:In the meantime, I'll pass along a story about the reaction of a friend who doesn't know much about Allen.
Trigilio:I told my friend, Mitch, that I was doing a reading this week, and that I was trying to find an appropriate poem of Allen's to open with.  Immediately, Mitch said, "When I heard about his death, I thought of the poem,
'Ode to Failure,'"
Trigilio:It was one that hadn't come to my mind right away, so I asked him why this one?
Trigilio:He said the final lines stuck in his mind:  "I never got to Heaven, Nirvana, X, Whatchamacallit, I never left Earth, / I never learned to die."
Trigilio:Mitch was impressed that Ginsberg could so honestly work out his own ambivalences on the page, even as the public media often took for granted that he was a confident, sure spokesperson for various
counter-cultures. go
MemBabe:thanks, tony
MemBabe:i have a passage
MemBabe:from the Tanakh, Isaiah 53, the prophecy of a messiah, but it sounds like allen to me:
He had no form or beauty, that we should look at him:
No charm, that we should find him pleasing.
He was despised, shunned by men,
A man of suffering, familiar with disease.
As one who hid his face from us,
He was despised, we held him of no account.
Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing,
Our suffering that he endured.
We accounted him plagued,
Smitten and afflicted by God;
But he was wounded because of our sins,
Crushed because of our iniquities.
He bore the chastisement that made us whole,
and by his bruises we were healed.
---end
MemBabe:go
Trigilio:Lovely.  Thanks. go
GoRimbaud:thanks, from here, too. go
MemBabe:i need a moment. go if you want. or don't.
GoRimbaud:ginsberg wrote in "Land O'Lakes, Wisc."
Buddha died and
left behind a
big emptiness.
-- October 1976
GoRimbaud:arthur rimbaud wrote: We know how to give our whole lives every day.
GoRimbaud:ginsberg gave and gave up thru his last day.
GoRimbaud:thanks for this forum, folks!
MemBabe:you're welcome, phillip.
GoRimbaud:i must be going. be well and celebrate allen's life everyday. go
MemBabe:the bg chatroom is open 24/7 here on aol
MemBabe:we have some scheduled times, as well: 7 and 11 pm eastern
MemBabe:you're welcome anytime. tell a friend. go
GoRimbaud:please keep me informed, please. GoRimbaud@aol.com !!!
MemBabe:will do. thanks. go
Trigilio:I have to go now, too.  Thanks, Diane, for letting us know about
this on beat-l, and thanks for giving more information on the bg chat room.  I'm glad to know this room is here, and I'll be back.  Please email me the Shambala link, either to Trigilio@aol.com or atrigili@lynx.dac.neu.edu (I check this one more often).  This has been a great communal way to commemorate Allen. go
MemBabe:tony... how circular. we began here, and we are ending here.
MemBabe:i already sent the link.
MemBabe:to your aol address
MemBabe:thank you for being here, and staying here the whole time.
MemBabe:blessings upon you, shalom, shanti and peace. go
Trigilio:Thanks.  See you here and on beat-l.  Peace-- go
MemBabe:i'm checking out too. feel spent. later, tony.... bye