I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix… —Excerpt from “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg
Jonathan Williams (1929-2008), a poet most strongly identified with the Black Mountain College group and founder of Jargon Press, turned down the opportunity to publish Allen Ginsberg’s celebrated poem “Howl” with no regrets. He later rationalized, “If Jargon had published it … it would have sold 300 copies.”[1]
Williams was a generous publisher, known for rooting out obscure but gifted poets, hence the lofty title “truffle hound of American poetry,” bestowed on him by literary critic Hugh Kenner. A gentleman — some would say gadfly — from Highlands, North Carolina, where he lived most of his adult life, Williams was incredibly active until his death at age 79. Today, the Jargon Society at Black Mountain College is a continuation of his efforts.
Williams’s own poetry, and that of the Black Mountain College poets of the 1950s, was “visual.” The poetry, much like his personality, entailed the use of wit and was heavily influenced by painting and music.[2]
We know that “Howl” was later published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights. In fact, the Beat poets were a tight group of associates spanning all of North America. Ginsberg, Williams, and Ferlinghetti, as well as Gregory Corso, Robert Creeley, Kenneth Koch, Kenward Elmslie, and Michael McClure came together at the National Portrait Gallery in April 1996 for a symposium and marathon poetry reading held in conjunction with the exhibition “Rebels: Painters and Poets of the 1950s.”
This video of Williams reading his 1958 poem “O, For A Muse of Fire!” is an excerpt from that event. It’s evident that Williams lived up to his self-declaration, “If my eyes stay open and my ears stay open, very little bores me.”[3] The video of the entire poetry reading is held in the National Portrait Gallery’s audio-visual archive.
Jonathan Williams reads his 1958 poem, "O, For A Muse of Fire!" about baseball legend Stan Musial's 3000th hit.
This post was written in conjunction with Archives Month 2014. Fittingly, it also falls at the time of the World Series! Cool!
