Howl (noun). Howl (verb). Howl, the poem heard round the world.

Define “GREATEST”:

1. largest global impact
2. most lasting cultural influence
3. most lasting aesthetic influence

The howl of the loner, the crazy, the rebel, the solitary individual confronting the impenetrable walls of society. In other words, all of us.

No walls stop Howl.

Poem that fought censorship, that went to court. Poem locked up by government. Poem finally freed by great publisher-poet-friend, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Poem now in 26 languages, over one million sold, US in 55th printing.

Poem that was read in public for the first time at the historic Six Gallery reading, single-handedly reviving the oral tradition in America, Kerouac shouting, “Go! Go! Go!” with a jug of red wine, October 7, 1955.

Poem that condenses and expands, in other words, “breathes.” Poem of humor and beauty, of repetition and incision. Rocking poem, meditative poem, particular, oracular, individuated, personal poem. Great shriek of anguish, orgasmic poem. Oft imitated. Homage to precursors, Whitman and Blake, yet “Make It New,” Pound.

The question on the floor (gosh, I like writing oral tradition into digital! “I yield the floor” etc.) is: Is there a new Howl? How does The Waste Land fit in? The Cantos? Paterson? Sunjata, Iliad/Odyssey? Gilgamesh? Popul Vuh? Mahabarata? The Divine Comedy? How about Song of Myself and Songs of Innocence and Experience, Ginsberg’s inspirations?

And for further discussion, I recommend:

• American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation by Jonah Raskin (University of California Press, 2006)
  



• Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression, edited by Bill Morgan and Nancy J. Peters (City Lights Publishing, 2006)
  



• The Poem That Changed America: “Howl” Fifty Years Later by Jason Shinder (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006)
  

A note: one poem that has been mentioned as a contender for the current generation’s “Howl” is Saul Williams’ “Amethyst Rocks.” Saul’s performance of this terrific poem caused a whole generation of hiphop poets to adopt turn-table mannerisms and imitate Saul’s halting flow and ironic attachment/detachment, and it arguably spawned the style that became the aesthetic of Russell Simmons’ HBO series Def Poetry Jam.

~Bob Holman