Friday, March 13, 2009

because the only people for me are the mad ones

the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"



Yesterday was Jack Kerouac's birthday so I dedicate this post to him. Like many in their teens, On the Road was one of those books that made a huge impact on me. I still remember my copy: I underlined, wrote notes in the margins. But many years back, I stupidly lent it to some guy I had been dating. Neither to be seen again; I don't miss the guy, but I certainly miss that beat up old copy of On the Road.

...So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty, I think of Dean Moriarty.

2 comments:

  1. I feel so bad about your missing book with so much of you in it! Damn, I hate when that happens! I've been a fan of Kerouac's forever it seems. I had that book too, no clue who I must have loaned it to. I'm going to order one from Amazon - do you want me to send you a copy too?

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  2. Thanks for the offer, I've since replaced that copy, just not the same as the one with my 17yr old thoughts!

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