"How to Meditate" by Jack Kerouac \ stacker news ~BooksAndArticles

923 sats \ 12 comments \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 22 May BooksAndArticles

The post by @carlosfandango here reminded me that Kerouac was also a poet. I love the fluidity of his writing and the contrast between the active and engaging language and the serene subject matter, but once again regret attempting to format poetry in Markdown.

How to Meditate by Jack Kerouac -lights out- fall, hands a-clasped, into instantaneous ecstasy like a shot of heroin or morphine, the gland inside of my brain discharging the good glad fluid (Holy Fluid) as i hap-down and hold all my body parts down to a deadstop trance-Healing all my sicknesses-erasing all-not even the shred of a "I-hope-you" or a Loony Balloon left in it, but the mind blank, serene, thoughtless. When a thought comes a-springing from afar with its held- forth figure of image, you spoof it out, you spuff it off, you fake it, and it fades, and thought never comes-and with joy you realize for the first time "thinking's just like not thinking- So I don't have to think any more"

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51 sats \ 2 replies \ @plebpoet 22 May

I think words beginning with "a-" should make a come back, in this case "a-clasped"

30 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 22 May

I'm in favor of this.

71 sats \ 0 replies \ @carlosfandango 22 May

A-seconding this

75 sats \ 3 replies \ @carlosfandango 22 May

Thanks for the shout out. You can do a really deep dive on his poetry and I enjoy his unconventional haiku.

20 sats \ 2 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 22 May

I'm a bit embarrassed that I did that deep dive back in the day (some 40 years ago), when I was way too young to really appreciate his poetry, and by the time I really became a reader of poetry, was splitting my focus between the Confessionals and the Romantics (no regrets about either, just wish I'd expanded my scope earlier). I really need to revisit more of his non-prose work.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @carlosfandango 22 May

There is the obvious ‘Mexico City Blues’ and some collected editions of his poetry to get reacquainted with.

Poetry was a key outlet for Kerouac and the Beat movement, but often seems overlooked in favour of more easily digestible literature (like On The Road). Ginsberg’s Howl was popular but it’s rarely remarked on as part of a wider range of poetry from that time.

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 22 May

Oh yeah, Howl remained on my radar then and now (just an outstanding poem), but definitely seemed to feel isolated instead of part of a movement.

41 sats \ 0 replies \ @riberet19 22 May

Interesting, how this poet makes a poem about how to meditate, and I really liked it.

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @didiplaywell 22 May

Remember that the secret for a good poem in Markdown is to write everything in italics:

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 22 May

I'm not a fan of italicizing poems because poets themselves often use italics within their poetry (see this example). I assume they they wanted their poems in plain fonts if that's how they formatted them.

The more complicated issue with poetry in Markdown is getting intents and spacing correct, since unlike italics, it's not something Markdown always handles gracefully.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @didiplaywell 22 May

Remember that You can always use Blank Spaces

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 22 May

Great find. Thanks for sharing.