Correspondence #59: Jim Cohn

Creativity from multiple contexts

The poet Jim Cohn, one of that later generation of US writers who identify with the legacy of the Beat tradition, responds to our recent article ‘Black poet, Beat poets…or poets?’ (July 31st, 2025)…

Email, July 31st, 2025

Dear R&BG,

One response to your piece is that poets readily create in and/or from multiple contexts, racial or otherwise, to which they identify, regardless of reciprocity and/or acknowledgment from each community.

I've known several poets who were identified with non-Beat schools of poetry and who also felt they were Beat poets, though not readily seen as such by scholars.

Best as always,

Jim

See also: Book review #28: Treasures for Heaven, August 3rd, 2024