5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Amazing WEALTH of Writing Advice, December 18, 2006
I've been having an ongoing flirtation with the "Beat Generation" this year, having read Diane Di Prima, Anne Waldman, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, among others. When I stumbled across this set of audio CD's, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. To hear these giants of their generation reading their own works was a dream come true.
The title "First Thought, Best Thought" was the phrase that poet Allen Ginsberg used to describe spontaneous and fearless writing--a way of "telling the truth" that arises from naked and authentic experience.
Here's the gist of the CD's:
*William S. Burroughs teaching his breakthrough methods for generating fresh writing--including "the cut-up method," chance operations, and dreamwork.
*Diane di Prima on how to survive as an artist: preserving your sensibility, creating a supportive artistic community, getting published, self-publishing, and much more.
*Allen Ginsberg exploring every stage of poetic activity--from inspiration, to composition, to revision, to performing your poetry in public.
*Anne Waldman on the elements of the poet's craft--from the raw material of the words themselves to the many aspects of the poem in performance.
I must say that my own writing practice (after listening to these CD's a few times) has been profoundly enriched for the better. I've decided to publish my own poetry and I'm experimenting with the cut-up method suggested by Burroughs. It's a blast and funny has hell at times.
If you need a giant dose of inspiration and/or encouragement for your writing, then by all means, BUY THIS COLLECTION!
Of course, the Universe being a giant cross-reference, these authors led me to other great books: "Women of the Beat Generation" by Brenda Knight was an eye-opening read about the women of that generation.
Here's a blurb from that book: "In many ways, women of the Beat were cut from the same cloth as the men: fearless, angry, high risk, too smart, restless, highly irregular. They took chances, make mistakes, made poetry, made love, made history. Women of the Beat weren't afraid to get dirty. They were compassionate, careless, charismatic, marching to a different drummer, out of step. Muses who birthed a poetry so raw and new and full of power that it changed the world. Writers whose words weave spells, whose stories bind, whose vision blinds. Artists for whom curing the disease of art kills."
I'd also recommend, "Fast Speaking Woman" by Anne Waldman and "Memoirs of a Beatnik" by Diane Di Prima. Ms. Waldman got her inspiration for the title poem from the Shaman, Maria Sabina. So, you MUST read about Maria Sabina in this amazing book, "Maria Sabina: Her Life and Chants" by Alvaro Estrada. Here's a taste of one of her chants:
Because I can swim in the immense
Because I can swim in all forms
Because I am the launch woman
Because I am the sacred opposum
Because I am the Lord opposum
I am the woman Book that is beneath the water, says
I am the woman of the populous town, says
I am the shepherdess who is beneath the water, says
I am the woman who shepherds the immense, says
I am a shepherdess and I come with my shepherd, says
Because everything has its origin
And I come going from place to place from the origin . . .
(Alvaro Estrada, "Maria Sabina: her Life and Chants")
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