young girls and older men

by maureen a mcgovern

Posted to Corso Tribute on 2001-02-21 20:16:00

I was 16 in college in San Francisco in 1956 and got to sit at the feet of most of the men known as Beatniks. Miss Smith’s Tea Room, The City Lights Book Store and many places on the Barbary Coasts that were off-limits to military personnel were our hangouts. I thought Keane was the greatest painter in the history of the world and meeting these men changed the way I think and the way I lived my life. It saddens me now to think that most of them are gone. What also saddened me was some of their behavior as they got older.
With age should come some sort of dignity. What giddy times -sneaking out of school through the nun’s exit and coming back in at 4 a.m. just before the nuns headed for chapel. I only wore black with a stark white lipstick. I thought we were invincible. I still remember Jack’s advice – hit the road with a dollar and a roadmap. Goodbye to Greg – thanks for all the dreams.