 |
[Above: Allen Ginsberg performing during his 1966 “Wichita Vortex Sutra” journey.]
For the second month in a row I have literary criticism appearing in The Believer — and my new essay, “The Last Antiwar Poem,” moves beyond travel themes to discuss the poetry of Allen Ginsberg. As the American literary community prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Howl and Other Poems, my essay points out how … Read more »
When I traveled to New York for the first time back in 1994, the very first person I met while riding the subway was Tony Mansfield, a porn actor who had a minor role in the 1978 adult classic Debbie Does Dallas.
How’s that for an opening sentence? It also happens to be a factual detail, which I’ll get back to it in a moment.
As a book tour stop, New York was somewhat of … Read more »
While driving through Texas a couple weeks back, I heard a country radio song called “You’re Always Seventeen in Your Hometown.” The meaning of the song, I’m sure, pertains to how people in your hometown see you when you come back to visit. But whenever I go back to my hometown of Wichita, I begin to feel seventeen years old without other people’s help. That is, I fall into this strange pattern of activities that … Read more »
Before my book tour ever started, I tried to think of all the worst-case scenarios that might occur as I traveled from city to city: belligerent hecklers; readings consisting entirely of bored family members; frenzied, fascistic book burnings, wherein enraged audiences hurled copies Vagabonding into roaring bonfires.
So far, none of this has happened. Nevertheless, I’ve held on to a grain of pessimism, just in case. I’m generally an optimist, of course; I just want … Read more »
Shortly before I left for the Kansas City leg of my book tour, a second-hand email message landed in my inbox. It read: “Tell Rolf to be careful when he goes on the Walt Bodine Show. Walt is a crazy old blind man, and you never know what he’s going to do!”
Since Walt Bodine also happens to be the legendary host of Kansas City’s NPR morning talk show — a show I was … Read more »