Death & Fame: Last Poems 1993-1997 [Paperback]

I thought long and hard about what to say about this final collection of Ginsberg's. As a poet, he was one of the best, and it is out of sentiment and respect that made me want to like his final poems. But in reality, they do not stand up to his former work. I almost find it hard to believe that this is the same man who wrote Howl, Kaddish, and others. It was interesting to see what Ginsberg's state of mind was at the end. It would appear that it was mostly scatological thoughts and political ravings. Not that I mind those types of poems, if they are well written. But still, it is a collection that I would recommend for your personal library, if only because it is Ginsberg's last. Though there were some good poems and interesting thoughts in this collection. We will miss Ginsberg.

Ginsberg wrote his greatest works in the fifties although moments of his power were felt later, for example the work 'White Shroud.' He did not find a subject worthy of his powers. The poet/prophet sometimes did seem to waste his insights on matters of transitory importance. Unfortunately, it was his own inpending death that did provide a powerful subject for his pen. Not every poem in this volume is up to the standards he had reached in previous work,but many can be counted among his best poems.

Known as one of the original Beats, Allen Ginsberg (1926 -- 1997) wrote poetry for over fifty years. He wrote his best poetry including "Howl" and Kaddish" during the 1950s. Although his poetry generally declined during his latter years, it is a mistake to dismiss it. Ginsberg's last collection, "Death and Fame" consists of about 70 poems written during the last four years of his life, 1993 -- 1997. Of the six reviews of this book currently on Amazon, the most recent dates from 2002. Thus, it is appropriate with the passage of time to take a look at this last work of Ginsberg.

This is a mixed collection; but the best of these poems include a combination of playfulness, irreverence and meditation on old age, sickness, and death that make them a fitting end to a poet's life. The discovery of old age, sickness and death led to the awakening of the Buddha; and, as might be expected, there is much of Tibetan Buddhism in these poems. But Ginsberg took his Buddhism lightly and without ponderousness. Much in this collection celebrates Ginsberg's hard-won joy in his own sexuality and love of the everyday.

The poems that moved me begin with the final poem, "Things I'll not do (Nostalgias) written on March 30, 1997, within a week of Ginsberg's death. Ginsberg looks back and remembers many of the experiences of his lifetime and realizes that he will never do them again. Ginsberg recollects and bids farewell to what he has loved and approaches death with equanamity. The poem concludes.

"No moe sweet summers with lovers, teaching Blake at Naropa,
Mind Writing Slogans, ne modern American Poetics, Williams
Kerouac Reznifoff Rakosi Corso Creeey Orlovsky
Any visits to B'nai Israel graves of Buba, Aunt Rose, Harry Meltzer and
Aunt Clara, Father Louis
Not myself except in an urn of ashes."

In the title poem, "Death and Fame" written February 22, 1997, Ginsberg, always the self-promoter, observes that upon death he doesn't care about the disposition of his body, "But I want a big funeral." Ginsberg imagines a funeral attended by his family and his religious teachers. But he emphasiszes "most important, lovers over half-century/Dozens, a hundred more, older fellows bald & rich" who would share there physical experiences with the poet, his openness, tenderness, and unashamed eroticism. Ginsberg then asks for 'poets and musicians" to attend his funeral together with "highschool teachers, lonely Irish librarians, delicate bibliophiles, sex liberation troops, nay armies, ladies of either sex." Ginsberg imagines the attendance of "Thousands of readers" who will pay tribute such as "Howl changed my life in Libertyville Illinois"' "I saw him read Montclair state Teachers College decided to be a poet." Finally, fans, and journalists and "gawkers" are imagined at the funeral, with Ginsberg concluding of the attendees:

"Everyone knew they were part of 'History' except the deceased
who never knew exactly what was happening even when I was alive."

A poem with the appropriately Beat title "Gone Gone Gone" also celebrates death and the experiences that make life either rewarding or a chore. The title word is repeated like a mantra as the poem concludes with a realization of finality:

"yes it's gone gone gone
so I end this song
yes its gone gone gone
No more right & wrong
yes it's gone gone gone
gone gone away"

There is variety in this last collection. Several poems are written to the tune of popular songs, including "New Stanzas for Amazing Grace" which sings of the plight of the homeless. In "Variations on Ma Rainey's See See Rider" Ginsberg writes the following words for the great blues singer: "See See Rider/ you got me/in your chair/But if I have/my fanny/can sell it anywhere". And "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush" is a scatological song about the diseases of old age. Poems such as "Excrement" "Bowel Song" and "Scatological Observations" continue this theme.

Besides some sharply satirical political poems, the collection also concludes intimately reflective works. Among other poems, in "City Lights City" Ginsberg remembers nostalgically his days and companions in San Francisco during the time he wrote "Howl". "Multiple Identity Questionaire" describes the changing nature of the self, and the Buddhist teachings of lack of fixed personal identity. A poem with a related theme is "Objective Subject". In "You know what I'm saying?" Ginsberg plays with this overused phrase to remember acts of kindness he received in high school long ago.

The volume includes a Foreword by Robert Creeley and an Afterword by Bob Rosenthal, both of which offer valuable comments on Ginsberg's achievement and on the final years of his life. The collection offers an eloquent end to the work of an American poet.

Robin Friedman