tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269897476303735022.post8244742944222874145..comments2024-01-20T20:02:00.252-08:00Comments on Flying for the Window: The Bloggings of a Curious Man: Whitman on Acid: An Interview with Poet John RocheCharles Cotéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681545501396352183noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269897476303735022.post-46466961420266911622011-08-13T10:20:36.034-07:002011-08-13T10:20:36.034-07:00I should probably post the SPD page for ROAD GHOST...I should probably post the SPD page for ROAD GHOSTS:<br /><br />http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9780964734296/road-ghosts.aspxJZBardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822729902491317114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269897476303735022.post-77917169475898778502011-08-13T10:18:01.897-07:002011-08-13T10:18:01.897-07:00Thoughtful response, Susan. Thanks for reminding u...Thoughtful response, Susan. Thanks for reminding us of the "never returned" we need to honor. Not that Vietnam era was singular. I'm thinking also of returning vets in Leslie Silko's "Ceremony," a novel about creating healing rituals. Then there's the two million Americans in prison, to whom Janine dedicated much of her energies.<br /><br />You are on the mark about Whitman. He'd be unlikely to take acid, but would probably have volunteered at a Drop-in Center.JZBardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822729902491317114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269897476303735022.post-30987837760791254962011-08-12T13:32:33.528-07:002011-08-12T13:32:33.528-07:00I took delight in the interview of John Roche ... ...I took delight in the interview of John Roche ... very thoughtful ... not so much "Whitman on acid" as an older poet's recollection of a younger person's foray into a rite of psychedelic passage that many younger men and women of the 1960s and early 1970s journeyed through. The interview reads as a fragment of memoir, one exploring what has brought one human being to the writer's life and the real depths and dimensiions of creating with words/vision/music. It is important for all of us to remember that quite a few people never returned from the "I'm leaving home" extremes of that era, whether from Vietnam or from the social/political upheavals in this country. Something else never quite returned ... idealism, hope, trust, vision backed by action. I was THERE, so I am nearly shattered by some of the cynicism and oppression and economic crashing and wars that I am witnessing now. At best, ROAD GHOSTS might remind not just younger people but all people that there is a place for idealism and taking chances with the dream of some life sweeter in mind. As for Walt Whitman, he most likely would have been the gentle bearded man nursing the innocents who tripped out into despair and nightmare for one reason or another,whether from "in country" Nam or "in country" Turtle Island. Oh, and there is nothing of "fairy tale" in my lines in poem I collaborated in with John ... definitely something of Native Indian (not that I have any problem with fairy tales ... they run deep).Deer Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16433306518768230837noreply@blogger.com