Feb 05 2023
Today is the birthday of one of America’s most prominent Beat Generation writers, William S. Burroughs, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1914. Burroughs was born into a wealthy family and studied English and anthropology at Harvard, and then went to medical school in Vienna. In 1943, Burroughs met Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, and the three …
Feb 04 2023
Poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert was born on this day February 4, 1900 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Prévert was known as a symbolist and Surrealist writer amongst the likes of Raymond Queneau, Robert Desnos, Louis Aragon, Marcel Duhamel, Yves Tanguy, and André Breton. Prévert’s most well-known writings are love and social justice ballads, oft known as “song poems,” many of …
Feb 03 2023
Sacred Emily Argonauts.That is plenty.Cunning saxon symbol.Symbol of beauty.Thimble of everything.Cunning clover thimble.Cunning of everything.Cunning of thimble.Cunning cunning.Place in pets.Night town.Night town a glass.Color mahogany.Color mahogany center.Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.Loveliness extreme.Extra gaiters.Loveliness extreme.Sweetest ice-cream.Page ages page ages page ages.Wiped Wiped wire wire.Sweeter than peaches and pears and cream.Wiped wire …
Feb 02 2023
Well known for the books Dubliners (1914), Ulysses (1922), and Finnegan’s Wake (1939), among others, writer James Joyce was born James Augustine Aloysius Joyce on February 2, 1882 in Rathgar, Ireland. “Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned.” -James Joyce
Feb 01 2023
April Rain Song Let the rain kiss youLet the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid dropsLet the rain sing you a lullabyThe rain makes still pools on the sidewalkThe rain makes running pools in the gutterThe rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at nightAnd I love the rain. -Langston Hughes, …
Jan 31 2023
Best known for his numerous short stories and the novels Appointment in Samarra and Butterfield 8, writer John O’Hara was born on this day January 31, 1905 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. “A merchant in Baghdad sends his servant to the marketplace for provisions. Shortly, the servant comes home white and trembling and tells him that in …
Jan 30 2023
“I feel as if I am an adfor the sale of a haunted house: 18 rooms$37,000I’m yoursghosts and all.” -Richard Brautigan, born January 30, 1935 in Tacoma, Washington.
Jan 29 2023
American author and environmental activist Edward Abbey was born January 29, 1927 in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He spent much of his life exploring nature and working as a ranger for several national parks, including working for the United States National Park Service at Arches National Monument in 1956 and 1957, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in early 1960s, Florida Everglades in 1965, …
Jan 28 2023
Today is the birthday of poet Marcel Broodthaers, born January 28, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium. The Grass The centuries are lined up in a box of matches.I’ll buy. I have an eight-pence. The sun is blueat the star’s window Midnight danceswith the fairy as a tendril A little green at the ear, I dream of …
Jan 27 2023
Writer Lewis Carroll, famous for his novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) was born on January 27, 1832 in Cheshire, England. Here is his playful poem about a fantastic creature, “Jabberwocky,” from Through the Looking-Glass. Jabberwocky ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves, And the …