H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

MARC OLMSTED

Carcass Poet

Kerouac’s

scroll, the

original ON

THE ROAD -

one long page

one long road

(as Ginsberg said)

so Kerouac didn’t need

to stop typing -

previously

exhibited in the

De Young museum

religious relic

now at Christie’s

auction, skin

of the carcass poet

big

game trophy

going for a million & a half -

- “A lot of

traffic?” I

ask the receptionist

“Yeah.”

I wondered if

any Universities

had come forward

yet, adding

“If it gets into

a private collection

it'll be hard

to ever see”

She looks

over my

shoulder, disinterested

- The scroll itself

talks about Burroughs

an early-middle

section spread out

both ends of

the scroll in

Roman proclamation

clear glass rollers

- whole about

4 feet long -

an older man

hunches over

it with his

friend in her

50’s, the

flaming red

cockatoo-do

too young for

her now -

he has a smug

smile

- he blocks my

view

over the glass

sarcophagus

of the 4 ft. midget

Jack -

it’s the older

man’s book,

it’s everyone’s

book

just like people

say “Allen” instead

of “Ginsberg"

(but few call

him “Ginsey”) -

the magic’s

stolen,

you can’t

feel a thing

in the tiny

room, a

Japanese

man in

a suit

the karate

security

- downstairs

the shaved

head black

security guard

lets me out

“‘I'm gonna

go see it

myself”

he tells me,

as I push

the green

button unlocking

the glass door

into the street

Jack would have

liked him

“You should” I

say, regretting

it, University

teacher in

my mouth -

dressed in black

catching my

reflection

in a hearse

4/12/01

Note: The scroll sold for 2.2 million to Jim Irsay owner of the Indianapolis Colts who also owns one of Elvis' guitars.

[Originally published in NHS 2002, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs02/olmsted.html.]