“A Trenta Sei for Allen Ginsberg” takes the trenta sei (36 lines that rhyme, where the first line is the same as the last line) to praise Jewish-Buddhist poet Allen Ginsberg. It also features John Ciardi, poet and creator of the Trenta Sei form.
he died with chants surrounding him like wind
Peter Orlovsky on his knees
the ruling class now free from their bind
Ciardi said: psilanthropic among exegetes
i am moved by the next to last poem he wrote
concerning pregnancy, but really Hep C’s bloat.
Peter Orlovsky on his knees
seeing another beloved waste away
he was schooled in bringing people to the other side
his poems as permanent as the breeze
he had taken a helluva ride
from San Francisco to Tangiers
he and his lover left many in tears.
the ruling class no longer in a bind
from Ginsberg’s calumnies
first Vietnam, then US turmoil he defined
as sound and fury, significant to those with big salaries
he defined the 60s counterculture with so many creatives
a classics scholar would say he knew well the dative.
Ciardi said psilanthropic among exegetes
he despised Ginsberg and his fellow Beats
at Bread Loaf, slammed tradition into charges’ knees
that made his literary program directing cease
he’s put in poetry history as a formalist
his poetry is subordinate.
i am moved by the next to last poem he wrote
years of drugs and unprotected sex hit him hard
these things have him smote
the poetry world sad that he’s expired
many tributes came from sniveling poets
in particular, those he thought below us.
concerning pregnancy, but really Hep C’s bloat
he knew so many felled by worse
his mother and father, illness and divorce
his first love, too many drugs down his throat
other loves, the so called “gay curse”
his legacy has charted many a poet’s course.
