i am currently ingesting (through my eyes and ears and inner being) a book of fantastic possibility. the dead emcee scrolls. are phenomenal.

i was recently reading this book with a young scholar who had just completed a school project on the “beat” movement (ginsberg, burroughs, kerouac, etc.) we had recently spoken about the transformative effect of ginsberg’s “howl” on the minds of his age. one of us commented that we longed to understand that poem in its original context. with all of its original potency. but though we could intellectually understand the circumstances surrounding such a piece of art we could never sit and be impressed by the freshness. it had already made an effect on our collective consciousness. it was still beautiful but its immediacy no longer clung to the work.

but we read this book. these dead scrolls. side by side. in silence. when he said. “you know. this is it. we are in it.” the message of “howl” we wanted to get inside of and understand from its beginning. but this was a new beginning. one that incorporated the beat of our generation. one whose importance swelled in the hollow of our throats until we choked on the pit of its poetry.

in the words of victor hugo:

“there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”