Forgetting To Howl

for Allen Ginsberg

Forgetting to howl I lose my madness,
Become numb to a numb world;
I rally and ranch and free range into dumps
That siphon further into the underbelly
Of the Devil's Gulag stare.

Howl wolf, howl when you can!
Howl Lear, for the love you seek,
For the prisoner who could be free,
For the lost, lonesome 21st century,
For the moon - its yours if you want it to be -
Howl! Howl! Do not forget to howl.

The grazing ambulances make no noise anymore,
Their red lights turned on but no one wakes up.
The stars are shut down tonight to save on power,
So no one wants to be awake; no one howls.

Fools to live all, we are! Har, har.
With no howl, no life, no scars to move on.
Show me a pirate and I might join him.
My poverty is poverty too; my light is dimming.
I would join Clark Rockerfeller in his cell if I could,
He must howl for the lies that he knows.

And jail wouldn't make much difference to me.
I'd bunk with Rockerfeller, criminal mastermind -
Not the dead rich robots who beep for their food.
Yes, I'll dine with fake rich heirs who live in their dreams.
(Twisted though his dreams may be)
Maybe his dreams will help my dreams be joys again -
Not saving suffocating nuns by knocking books to the floor.

Joy to the world.
But are we saved?
No. A thousand times no.

Not until health becomes like the night
In whispery, universal winds of soul,
With vagabond horsemen turning the gyre of the moon
So that everyone can see it at their whim.

Not until the poor have their daylight restored
From the depths of how it never was there to begin with.

Not until thousands of fears can confess
That the world they fear does not exist,
Could not exist, ever at all, no how.

I have not seen salvation approaching
Though I look for it at all hours,
And when the thought of it not coming,
Stirs the night and folds the sails,
We must howl or face our death.

Howl wolf, howl when you can!
Howl, Lear, for the love you seek!
For the prisoner who could be free,
For the lost, lonesome 21st century,
For the moon - its yours if you want it to be -
Howl! Howl! Do not forget to howl.

Watch me hurry to the beaches -
Desert sand bordering desert waters -
I'll feed on the catharsis I will castigate myself with later.
The crabs die here for want of water,
The birds feed on their carcasses and bread
Strewn aside by picnickers who did not need communion.
Nothing seperates desperation and luxury,
On the cold, desert sand its all survival
With or without the pursuit of true life.

I escaped to the wasteland beach,
Became aquainted with silent night,
Felt guilt unbound as Prometheus' fire
But felt the crows from Promethus side
When the guilt from no guilt arrived.

And all the while I forgot to howl,
Stupid wretch that I am,
For to howl is why I went.
I've been on the edge of so many breakdowns
There seems to be no solution but...