There is so much that makes this poem captivating. As it's my first Ginsberg poem, I'm having a hard time figuring out what is a particular charm of this one poem and what is his style and approach to poetry (and life). A few things I notice are his intentional casual language. I imagine that he had the literacy to use proper grammar, spelling and syntax and that he instead chose to keep the poem in the language of the common person. Much like many religious reformers who advocated for their respective churches to speak in the language of the common folk, he keeps his poem accessible to us all. There is much darkness in his poem, but it comes from a raw, real look at the world. There is beauty in the same places. But overall I find the spirit of him poem exciting. He and the other Beat Generation took political and social dissidence very seriously. It is all over this poem, comfort with homosexual relationships, questioning the paradox of beauty that the sunflower represents (beautiful, yet wilted in some places--much like what the Beats might have thought of America). To bring this back home, I'd like to ask if anyone can think of present day artists who embody this spirit. I can think of some conscious rap artists and maybe some serious fantasy fiction writers such as Lupe Fiasco and Ursula K. Le Guin, respectively. I'd love to know who else is out there!
"Sunflower Sutra" at PF:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179382
