January 22-28, 2001: Laurence F. Hawkins and S.A. Griffin

Envy the Make and Mask of Death .for the memory of Gregory Corso Goodbye my dear Gregory, underground Gligoric, desolated Urso, now a muzzled Shelleyian ox, Goodbye No longer can you play the mad yak hitchhiking on the highway claiming the ocean chases the fish No longer can you pretend to be an imitation of power Your Village flesh is melting away as I weep, and write I hate the very air I breath .I smell fried shoes (You would probably say: Free the fumes ) I wanted to ask you Gregory: Should I get married? Should I be good? Now, what is left? Should I tell them you are dead? Would they like me then? Would they say: All right we’ve lost a poet but gained a Death? Owls hoot, calling your name, and the train’s toot deflates another ego Your bitter travel is done Your wait in the terminal is done A man crosses the street I stand on the corner applauding him – he made it! (for now) There was death, of course, before I was born, not, the Death nor, The Happy Birthday of Death! simply ‘death’ .To pass a dead bird, .the notice of it is, .yet walking on .is gone .The thought remains .and thought is all I know of death Dear, dear Gregory, dead at 70, so few of us are left Who? .Snyder .Ferlinghetti .di Prima .LeRoi/Baraka Who? I already miss you, you unkempt hirsute son of a bitch I woke to the reality of cars Long Live Man!

S.A Griffin
sagriffin@mindspring.com

Bio (auto)

S.A Griffin is a Cadillac wrangling son of The Lone Star State raised in Northern California where the palm tree meets the pine He has been living in Los Angeles since September of 1978 His grandfather was a bookie and a cardplayer, his father was a card dealing used car salesman who raised Appaloosas, and his mother was Venus on the half shell He has been a presence on the L.A poetry since 1981 and has published two books of poems, A One Legged Man Standing Casually On Hollywood Blvd Smoking A Cigarette (Shelf Life Press), and Heaven Is One Long Naked Dance (Rose of Sharon Press) He has been widely published in a number of anthologies including: The Verdict Is In (Manic D Press), a collection of poetry dealing with the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and Journal of the Gulf War: Poetry from Home (Poets Reading, Inc ) He has had his poetry widely published in numerous magazines in print and online He is the co-editor of the popular anthology The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry from Thunder’s Mouth Press in New York which chronicles alternative or fringe poetry in America post WWII to the present The Outlaw Bible was recently awarded The Firecracker Award for Best Alternative Book of Poetry He was chosen as best performance/poet by The L.A Weekly in 1989 Mr Griffin has been a contributing writer for The L.A Weekly, Angry Thoreuan, Sure-A Bukowski Newsletter, and Lummox Review among others He has served on the editorial staff of Shattersheet, The Moment and Nuthin’ Sacred and was co-publisher and editor for (Sic) Vice & Verse and The Fool Mr Griffin has been a member of poetry/performance supergroups The Lost Tribe, The Carma Bums and White Trash Apocalypse; all three groups touring extensively throughout the western U.S and Canada from behind the dashboards of his ’59 Cadillac sedan, ’71 Buick Riviera and ’66 GMC citybus In 1994, The Carma Bums traveled to The University of Washington at Seattle to create The Carma Bums International Superhighway Tour Of Words, a diverse and intense collection of poetry including sound files and a tremendous array of brilliant images created by Robert Telck, making The Carma Bums one of the first ever to have a poetry site in cyber space In ’96, Sacred Beverage Press published Twisted Cadillac, a somewhat chronicle of The Carma Bums road trips as written by The Bums themselves The L.A Times called it “an On The Road for the ‘90’s”, and beat legend Lawrence Ferlinghetti has said that it is, “a hot rod of a book” Most recently Mr Griffin was a contributing writer for the very popular Underground Guide to Los Angeles (Manic d Press) which remained on the L.A Times bestseller list for 9 weeks

S.A Griffin currently lives in Los Angeles is a father, a Viet Nam era vet, and an award winning actor having starred/guest starred in over 200 films, television shows and commercials

The following work is Copyright © 2001, and owned by S.A Griffin and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsover without written permission from the author.

2001 and the California coastline is still here as always there are the eternal rumors of war & .peace the homeless still struggle against the elements of progress ideas viscerate the soul with promise spirit orbits knowledge like the first monkey looking for a drop cities rise and countries fall along with the centuries & millennia as the new lords of information pave the outer reaches with speculation taking up fresh arms of have to carry the apocalypse of change memory divines time somewhere like Alaska there are new prints in the virgin snow safe in the mouth of a thousand years here in Los Angeles on the 101 South a hubcap has been liberated lurching forward on the freeway like a kamikaze coyote piloting towards a final rest the perfect chaos of something wild forgotten before the fall the technology of surprise a teardrop like a waterfall to remind us that we are human after all .oh .beautiful .nowhere welcome .let’s dance