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poets the people would like to have seen there that night were Charles Olson and Gregory Corso, but they were well represented, even though they hadn't been able to make it to San Francisco. Emmett admired all the poets but valued one in particular because, unlike most members of the Beat Generation, he spoke about the discipline of Eastern philosophies with more than abstract knowledge. Gary Snyder went to Japan and became a Zen Master. On returning to the United States, he wrote a poem which the editors of the S.F. Oracle wanted to publish in their psychedelic paper as an example of his new work. He gave it to them but they only ran it in the first couple of copies of an early edition, pulling it out of print because, they claimed, it was "too hostile" to be compatible with their mild approach toward "consciousness raising." The poem simply seemed to indicate the need to relate man back to nature by calling for the correction of man's overall white, AngloSaxon way of thinking with American Indian, Japanese and Hindu thought. At least it seemed that way to Emmett, and he asked Gary Snyder if it was all right for him to have it printed up by the Communication Company and given away free. It was and he did. A CURSE ON THE MEN IN WASHINGTON. PENTAGON om a ka ca ta ta pa ya sa suaha As you shoot down the Vietnamese girls and men in their fields Burning and chopping, Poisoning and blighting, So surely I hunt the white man down in my heart. The crew-cutted Seattle boy The Portland boy who worked for U.P. that was me. I won't let him live. The "American" I'll destroy. The "Christian" has long been dead. They won't pass on to my children. I'll give them Chief Joseph, the Bison herds, Ishi, sparrowhawk, the Fir trees, The Buddha, their own naked bodies, Swimming and dancing and singing instead [end page 279] |
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