seems to want to talk about poetry. She’s been spotted out and about a few times receently with a T-shirt inspired by Ginsberg’s Howl<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I’ve never been much for Ginsberg, myself, so instead of talking about Howl<\/i>, I’ll offer up Karl Shapiro’s Hollywood<\/i> as a counterpoint.<\/p>\n
This poem has always been one of my favorites. It might actually be<\/i> my favorite. It’s just… perfect. For me.<\/p>\n
Hollywood<\/i>, unfortunately, seems to be one of those masterpieces that, once acclaimed, has been lost to time. I couldn’t find it in it’s entirety online, anywhere. So, I typed it out myself. That way, it’ll at least be remembered here, if nowhere else.<\/p>\n
This is a WWII era piece. The perspective here is that of a soldier daydreaming about the city while being deployed in the Pacific.<\/p>\n
Farthest from any war, unique in time Heart of a continent, the hearts converge Alice and Cinderella are most real. Luck is another. Here the body-guard, O can we understand it? Is it ours, Or are they parvenus, like boys and girls? seems to want to talk about poetry. She’s been spotted out and about a few times receently with a T-shirt inspired by Ginsberg’s Howl. I’ve never been much for Ginsberg, myself, so instead of talking about Howl, I’ll offer up Karl Shapiro’s Hollywood as a counterpoint. This poem has always been one of my favorites. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2209"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2220,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions\/2220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHollywood
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nLike Athens or Baghdad, this city lies
\nBetween dry purple mountains and the sea.
\nThe air is clear and famous, every day
\nBright as a postcard, bringing bungalows
\n\tAnd sights. The broad nights advertise
\nFor love and music and astronomy.<\/p>\n
\nOn open boulevards where palms are nursed
\nWith flare-pots like a grove, on villa roads
\nWhere castles cultivated like a style
\nBreed fabulous metaphors in foreign stone,
\n\tAnd on enormous movie lots
\nWhere history repeats its vivid blunders.<\/p>\n
\nHere may the tourist, quite sincere at last,
\nRest from his dream of travels. All is new,
\nNo ruins claim his awe, and permanence,
\nDespised like customs, fails at every turn.
\n\tHere where the eccentric thrives,
\nLaughter and love are leading industries.<\/p>\n
\nThe parasite, the scholar are well paid,
\nThe quack erects his alabaster office,
\nThe moron and the genius are enshrined,
\nAnd the mystic makes a fortune quietly;
\n\tHere all superlatives come true
\nAnd beauty is marketed like a basic food.<\/p>\n
\nA crude whim of a beginning people,
\nA private orgy in a secluded spot?
\nOr alien like the word harem<\/i>, or true
\nLike hideous Pittsburgh or depraved Atlanta?
\n\tIs adolescence just as vile
\nAs this its architecture and its talk?<\/p>\n
\nOr ours and happy, cleverest of all?
\nYes. Yes. Though glamorous to the ignorant
\nThis is the simplest city, a new school.
\nWhat is more nearly ours? If soul can mean
\n\tThe civilization of the brain,
\nThis is a soul, a possibly proud Florence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"