overcome the brainwashing
The Walt Whitman Allen Ginsberg Poetry Gospel
Walt Whitman, 5/31/1819 to 3-26-1892
by Ron Whitehead
1
We have been brainwashed by the brainwashed to believe that life must be their way. Believe what society culture the system tells you and your life will be secure.
Well that's pure bullshit. Nothing is certain. Security is the greatest illusion of all. Change is the number one universal principle. The quicker we learn to accept and embrace change the happier we will be, the easier it will be for us to flow with any and all situations. Question everything and everyone, including yourself.
There is no path. We have to find our own way in this pathless world. There are guides but ultimately we are our own best guides.
So I learned to be still and listen. I listen to the still small voice within my heart and soul coming to me through intuition. Learn to relax and let go in any and all situations. All you let go of will pass.
The creative imagination is the doorway between spirit and matter. Prayer is thought connected with creative spirit energy. Prayer is real. It works. Pray for the strength of will to develop a new positive attitude, an attitude that will enable you to encounter and handle any situation with peace and calm. A good resilient attitude is essential.
Nothing is impossible. Whatever you desire, believe, imagine, and take action on will happen. Action, determination, perseverance are central.
2
And here I am in Asheville. Ashville. Ash.
So what do I do? Quit? Give up?
Become cinder for that long distance
never ending railroad track to nowhere?
Give up? No. I listen to that still small voice coming to me
and I hear Allen Ginsberg preaching "Take a hand! Share the word!"
And The Walt Whitman Poetry Gospel starts coming to me through the gonads, the solar plexus, the heart, and the head! Yes!
Thank you Walt! Thank you Allen!
And my head rises to watch folks dancing
to The B-52’s "Love Shack" playing on the jukebox
in Asheville. And I’m looking at the moon over the mountain
thinking about the kid from Cheyenne
and the others from Denver.
And I think of Denver and of Dean Moriarty,
of Neal Cassady’s flame gone gone gone.
His naked body lying beside those
long distance never ending railroad tracks to nowhere.
And I hope those kids from the west,
hell I hope all of us
keep the funk!
Keep The Flame Alive!
Don’t let the system break you!
Don’t let life break you!
So when the time comes, when your time is up,
you go with peace in your heart
into that bright and shining night!
And now somebody’s playing the blues on the piano.
And yeah a few years ago I was sitting
at Ginsberg’s table in New York City
- a photo of Walt Whitman,
eyes watching us from the wall -
talking about Asheville,
talking about all the money I lost producing that
48-hour non-stop music and poetry INSOMNIACATHON
to kickoff New York University’s week long 50-year Celebration of
The Beat Generation. And I was talking with Allen Ginsberg
but like when Marc Smith proclaims his name
the audience responds "So what!"
And I’m thinking about Chicago's Green Mill & Poetry Alive
and I know few know how much work the poets do for poetry but I
know now that the reward is in the experience of poetry.
Poetry is life
and life is poetry.
And I remember that the ash
in Celtic and Scandinavian mythology is the tree
most generally associated with magic!
And here I am in Asheville with
all these poets who somehow know the alchemical magical
power of poetry, of the word! Yes!
Eat the word and the word will set you free!
And I’m in Asheville thinking about Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman and what they said about taking somebody’s hand
because we’re all in this together! We’re pulling!
We aren't pushing! We’re letting it be!
We aren't forcing it! And I realize that a poem
is only the representation of the actual experience!
The real poem is the event itself!
And I’m thinking about the National Poetry Slam
in Asheville, and out of the ash that I am I feel an energy
rising through me, growing strong, coming from poets
of all ages! And I’m in Asheville,
but it doesn't feel like failure any more! It feels
friendly! It feels good! It feels strong, like some kind of
rebirth
into poetry,
into life!
It feels like
resurrection!
Right now!
Right here!
In Asheville!
***Stay tuned for Ron Whitehead’s next installment on July 5, 2025!!!***
Photo of Ron Whitehead (by Jinn)
BIO: Poet, writer, editor, publisher, professor, scholar, activist, U.S. National Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate Ron Whitehead, who grew up on a farm in Kentucky, is the author of over 40 books and more than 40 albums.
A UNESCO Europe Writer-in-Residence, his work has been translated into 20 languages. Winner of the Kentucky Poetry Society’s World Peace Prize for Poetry (Judge Lisel Mueller), the Kentucky Poetry Prize, the Yeats Club of Oxford’s Prize for Poetry, the City of Louisville presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in The Arts, and many other awards and honors, including being nominated for the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ron's poetry has been published around the world in a diverse range of print and online publications from TRIQUARTERLY (Northwestern University/Illinois) to ARTFORUM (Czech Republic) to BLUE BEAT JACKET (Japan) to BEAT SCENE (England) to SOUTHERN REVIEW (Louisiana) to TRIBE magazine (NYC) to AMERICANS & OTHERS (Italy), and thousands of others.
He produced thousands of music and poetry events, festivals, and Insomniacathons across Europe and the USA. Although he recently retired from producing events, at 74, he continues to perform and record with his Storm Generation Band and many others.
His new book, TAPPING MY OWN PHONE, was released, September 2024, by the National & International Beat Poetry Foundation. His new album, THE WAY of THE HEART: OLD AGE SUITE was just released by sonaBLAST! Records.
He just returned from Newfoundland where he was the first Writer-in-Residence for the historic Woody Point Heritage Theatre’s Sonic Harvest Sessions. A new video, filmed in Newfoundland, was released February 2025.
His new book CROW and OUTLAW was released January 18, 2025 by Keeping the Flame Alive Press. A new Published in Heaven Poster of his “A Poet’s Path” poem was released on the same day. A new music spoken word video of A PRAYER for AMERICA/This Land is Your Land by Ron Whitehead (with Woody Guthrie) & The Storm Generation Band was released by sonaBLAST! Records in February 2025.
He will Feature at PoetFest in April 2025 at historic Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.
He will present The Keynote State of Gonzo Address at GonzoFest New Orleans in May 2025, where he will also perform with legendary composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram plus with the band ZU ZU YA YA.
His newest book, On A Feather of Light: New & Selected Poems, was just released by Pennington Press in hardbound, paperback, and e-book editions. And an audiobook will soon be released.
OUTLAW POET: The Legend of Ron Whitehead, a feature length documentary on Ron's life and work, is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Films Documentaries.
Ron Whitehead’s official website is tappingmyownphone.net