What can one say about Ginsburg? Infuriating, self-indulgent, slack, yes. And honest, generous, daring and great. He had his faults - he knew that. And huge merits including humour and not taking himself too seriously!
This is a generous selection of Ginburg's poems. Seminal poems like Howl -love it, hate it, you can't ignore it! - Kaddish, A Super-Market in California, and many others. And there are copious notes at the back from the man himself giving an insight into how the poems were written.
The whole volume gives a good overview of his whole career. To my mind after the seventies, the time of great writing was over. Yet through it all, shines a brilliant legacy.
Ginsburg always offers himself, unashamed with total honesty whatever the cost. That really is his message: be yourself, and through it become something more. At times he's too much. I suspect I won't want to move on to a collected Ginsburg. Yet, the greatness here transcends everything. I would not be without this volume.
Thank you Allen, great soul.