spell

     "footnote to howl" by allen ginsberg

Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
   Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy!
   The nose is holy! The tongue and cock and hand
   and asshole holy!
Everything is holy! everybody's holy! everywhere is
   holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman's an
   angel!
The bum's as holy as the seraphim! the madman is
   holy as you my soul are holy!
The typewriter is holy the poem is holy the voice is
   holy the hearers are holy the ecstasy is holy!
Holy Peter holy Allen holy Solomon holy Lucien holy
   Kerouac holy Huncke holy Burroughs holy Cassady
   holy the unknown buggered and suffering
   beggars holy the hideous human angels!
Holy my mother in the insane asylum! Holy the cocks
   of the grandfathers of Kansas!
Holy the groaning saxophone! Holy the bop
   apocalypse! Holy the jazzbands marijuana
   hipsters peace & junk & drums!
Holy the solitudes of skyscrapers and pavements! Holy
   the cafeterias filled with the millions! Holy the
   mysterious rivers of tears under the streets!
Holy the lone juggernaut! Holy the vast lamb of the
   middle class! Holy the crazy shepherds of rebellion
   Who digs Los Angeles IS Los Angeles!
Holy New York Holy San Francisco Holy Peoria &
   Seattle Holy Paris Holy Tangiers Holy Moscow
   Holy Istanbul!
Holy time in eternity holy eternity in time holy the
   clocks in space holy the fourth dimension holy
   the fifth International holy the Angel in Moloch!
Holy the sea holy the desert holy the railroad holy the
   locomotive holy the visions holy the hallucinations
   holy the miracles holy the eyeball holy the
   abyss!
Holy forgiveness! mercy! charity! faith! Holy! Ours!
   bodies! suffering! magnanimity!
Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent
   kindness of the soul!

(Berkeley, 1955)

Copyright © Allen Ginsberg 1955

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