Intellectual Curiosities and Provocations

November 2001

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut

Biography,
Postmodernism,
Summer Of Love
One day in the summer of 1969 my brother handed me a paperback book, saying, "Here, I think you'll like this one." The book was 'The Sirens of Titan' by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. My brother Phil was a science fiction reader. He went through SF paperbacks like candy, and he knew I was really not interested. But every once in awhile he would bring a book to my attention. What I was on the lookout for was anything that would make me laugh out loud, books like 'Catcher in the Rye', 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', 'Catch-22'. Vonnegut's 'Sirens of Titan' definitely fell into that category.

Buson

Eastern,
Haiku,
Visual Art
Following Basho, the next master haiku poet of ancient Japan was Yosa Buson. Buson, however, was much more than a master haiku poet; he also was a distinguished painter. And in his haiku, this comes across through a visual intensity and a love for color.

A tethered horse,
snow
in both stirrups

Field of bright mustard
the moon in the east,
the sun in the west

Issa

Eastern,
Haiku
Of the three master haiku poets, Issa is perhaps the most beloved. He has been characterized as an ancient Whitman or Neruda or Burns. His poetry can be lively and humorous, pious and honest, or sarcastic and full of rage. He wrote thousands of poems in his life, and many on subjects such as ticks, fleas, frogs and lice.

Marty Matz

Beat Generation,
Biography,
Tributes


The poet Martin Matz died in the evening of October 28, 2001 at the hospice unit of New York's Cabrini Hospital. I believe Marty was 67 years old. I met Marty in the Chelsea Hotel in 1989 and we remained close till his dying day. This is some of what I remember him telling me about his life. Because we were usually pleasantly loaded when we talked, some of my memories could be off a bit.