10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS POETRY The Beat Generation STEVEN Groundcover contributor The first time I heard the term Beatnik it was used disparagingly to describe the character Maynard G. Krebs on the 50s sitcom The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis. My ten-ish-yearold mind was blown. To see Gilligan in black and white and not being Gilligan. This must have been before he became a sailor. I reckoned and thought not much else about him or Beatniks for a few years but then I found "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac and my life changed. In the 90s there was a bit of a revival of Beat culture. Many of us GenXers embraced the hippies and weed and free love but many also rejected hippies for as many reasons as there are people. For some of us, myself and many of my friends, we had embraced some punk rock ideals. AIDS made free love problematic and frankly hippies were many of our parents and we rejected Boomers outright. But the Beats now, our Grandparents’ generation, check. Smoked pot and loved jazz, check, check. Outcasts who rejected authority, embraced Black culture and broke the rules of the elite literary establishment, inspiring a whole generation and creating a lasting legacy of critical thought and doing all this with style and panache. Done. We were hooked. There were and still are dozens of Beat authors and poets and artists but the unquestioned big three influencers were headlined by Allen Ginsberg, who wrote the famous epic poem "Howl," a groundbreaking poem considered by many to be a modern masterpiece. I was lucky enough to see him read an excerpt from "Howl" at Hill Auditorium in the 90s. Hearing him read it — I had read it — but hearing him read it still gives me goosebumps as I think about it now. He and many of the Beats were also heavily engaged with eastern thought and religion, Ginsberg being a Buddhist and involved with Ann Arbor's local Buddhist monastery. William S. Burroughs was older than the rest and thought of as an elder statesman of sorts. He was one of the few early Beats who didn’t attend Columbia University, but was connected to people who did. He met the other big two through a crazy series of events including murder, hate crimes, cover-ups, homosexuality (illegal at Hal Chase, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs. Near Columbia University. the time), drugs and god knows what. They lived counterculture. Jack Kerouac, considered the Father of the Beat Generation, a moniker he was never comfortable with, was arguably the most mainstream famous, making TV appearances and publishing several books to much acclaim. He wrote "On the Road," a stream of consciousness prose written as if he were using words as his instrument to noodle jazz. He died at 47 due to years of alcohol abuse. He was known as an enthusiastic listener at clubs and readings, hooting, hollering and banging an empty gallon wine jug on the floor the first time his friend read "Howl" in public. These three and many more — Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Amiri Baraka, Diane di Prima, to name a very few — were more than writers and poets and artists. They were free thinkers in a world beat down by war and institutionalized racism, political disillusionment, enforced patriotism, homophobia, sexism and religious persecution. It's easy to see why so many people still relate to them now. They didn’t let The Man get them down though, they changed the world. JULY 10, 2026 City Walking KELLI LEE MITCHELL Groundcover contributor Backpack, check. Ratty umbrella, check. Two pairs of shoes, check, check. I’ve logged a million miles in this city, and I’m the only one who knows it. I could pretend that little Robin over there noticed me, but he’s just another bird. I might find a penny, or a cap, or a can. If I get lucky, someone will ask, “Uhh, how do you do, ma’am?” I’ll definitely get asked for money, to which I’ll respond I have none. Soon spend the day being followed by a grudge from someone’s bitter son. I’ll visit every museum, except for on Mondays. Have sunshine and book dates while I contemplate the wind. I’ll peek in every shop and wish I dressed the windows. I’ll pass by all the playgrounds and miss the laughter of my kiddos. I’ll walk until the sun sets and then lie awake all night. Tomorrow I will watch the sun rise while I slowly drink coffee and cry. Then I’ll go walking again. Elements therapy KELLI LEE MITCHELL Hard Rain. The element is rain and it pours down. Easily recognizable, I hear rain. Let’s move back. I move away from the rain. I picture my body as a cave. I see my nose, become earth, and I push back……..far back. I only see stone behind me. When I look down, I see my surroundings. The front door is my nose. I see light pour in from both sides. I look down again and see bone. I think I am now the staircase.
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