An organization striving for "beat' prestige by attempting to add Dylan ...there's something fundamentally indecent about that... considering that the spirit of rebellion , anarchy,
and anti-institutionalism animated the Beats and early Dylan there's an absurdity and a wrong-headedness about the whole project of anointing beat"laureates" that somehow violates the existential purity of what Ginsberg et al.did back then.One driving force behind Dylan's shape shifting is the recognition that fame, honors,official recognitions ,and especially labels are a trap that can interfere and inhibit the artist/creator. Give the founder points for honesty though-She says in her mission statement that she founded this organization because she failed in establishing herself as a poet through the usual corrupt channels. But why create a farcical replica of those structures?... I respect her ambition and drive but I suspect my respect when I remember
Yeats -"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".
I suppose we are back in Groucho Marx territory: ‘I wouldn’t be a member of any club that would have me!’ But Dylan, did, after all, accept a Nobel Prize after a judicious pause. I do agree that we don’t associate the Beats with organised bureaucracies but, for me, I just enjoy the crossovers that can arise with that literary community of writers as a linking fulcrum. Like Ed Ruscha, Pop artist and Kerouac fan, doing the Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’ cover.
Got a nice chuckle for the night looking over the “Beat Poet Laureate” website...
“Beat Poet Laureates are chosen through recommendations that are submitted by email to NBPF15@GMAIL.COM. An anonymous committee of 7 people from different poetry groups, plus past and present NBPF Beat Poet Laureates give recommendations and reviews, and then votes on their choices, given the information received. The committee then forwards their findings to Debbie Tosun Kilday, owner, who then, after doing her own research and compiling the information received, then makes the final decisions based on several different factors. In order to be considered to be a Beat Poet Laureate, you must show interest in our group and social media pages. It helps to show interest and to attend our events, held both online and in person. Submitting your work to our beat anthologies is also a way to be seen and your work read.”
Are you concerned that the electoral college is so small? Do you think it should be expanded? Or are you actually against the idea of the National Beat Poetry Foundation? My questions are friendly and without prejudice!
An organization striving for "beat' prestige by attempting to add Dylan ...there's something fundamentally indecent about that... considering that the spirit of rebellion , anarchy,
and anti-institutionalism animated the Beats and early Dylan there's an absurdity and a wrong-headedness about the whole project of anointing beat"laureates" that somehow violates the existential purity of what Ginsberg et al.did back then.One driving force behind Dylan's shape shifting is the recognition that fame, honors,official recognitions ,and especially labels are a trap that can interfere and inhibit the artist/creator. Give the founder points for honesty though-She says in her mission statement that she founded this organization because she failed in establishing herself as a poet through the usual corrupt channels. But why create a farcical replica of those structures?... I respect her ambition and drive but I suspect my respect when I remember
Yeats -"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".
I suppose we are back in Groucho Marx territory: ‘I wouldn’t be a member of any club that would have me!’ But Dylan, did, after all, accept a Nobel Prize after a judicious pause. I do agree that we don’t associate the Beats with organised bureaucracies but, for me, I just enjoy the crossovers that can arise with that literary community of writers as a linking fulcrum. Like Ed Ruscha, Pop artist and Kerouac fan, doing the Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’ cover.
Got a nice chuckle for the night looking over the “Beat Poet Laureate” website...
“Beat Poet Laureates are chosen through recommendations that are submitted by email to NBPF15@GMAIL.COM. An anonymous committee of 7 people from different poetry groups, plus past and present NBPF Beat Poet Laureates give recommendations and reviews, and then votes on their choices, given the information received. The committee then forwards their findings to Debbie Tosun Kilday, owner, who then, after doing her own research and compiling the information received, then makes the final decisions based on several different factors. In order to be considered to be a Beat Poet Laureate, you must show interest in our group and social media pages. It helps to show interest and to attend our events, held both online and in person. Submitting your work to our beat anthologies is also a way to be seen and your work read.”
Are you concerned that the electoral college is so small? Do you think it should be expanded? Or are you actually against the idea of the National Beat Poetry Foundation? My questions are friendly and without prejudice!
Oh sorry if I sounded skeptical! I love the idea of a Beat Poet Laureate. But that selection process sounds opaque at best.
Not at all. Glad you chimed in.