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Rascal worked hard on reversals and revisions.

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There is a transition from words to pyramids, then columns, then arches, and then helices.  Does "build" proceed parallel to "go"?

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The word "go" lead to the waters.  Coming is a double entendre.  It leads to other births.  The reference to fluid lines is ejaculation, geometry, and the speed of light.

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Walking around in the aftermath of the storm, and seeing the damage of the broken branches and uprooted trees, I revisit the poem, Go, with a greater conviction to stay.


The "splintered lips" refer to the lips of a vagina.  Since they announce the birth of a word, they are also the lips of a mouth.  The splinters are from the previous lines which described roots (wood) spread like legs. 

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Gems appear to be moss.  The moss clings to roots.  The roots look like legs.  

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In 1976 Bantam Books was located at 666 5th Avenue. MOMA was around the corner, a fine place to visit during lunch or tour with a curator. You can feel pine needles on a Cezanne canvas.

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Influenced by a tour of MoMA, given to him by a curator named Fred, Rascal wrote.

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While working for a midtown publisher, Rascal was introduced to a curator at MoMA.

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Tears at accepting the tragic limitations.

(And so, in what amounts to a philosophical vaudeville performed by Gary and Janice, we get sketches depicting the savagery of elites, the pettiness of proles, the foolishness of dreamers. Then the traits get reassigned. Soon, the battle lines are drawn between those, of whatever class, who would try to save the world but fail — the comedians, that is — and those who won’t try at all: the tragedians.

 So for me, at least, the most convincing and powerful moments came when the performances aligned with the gravity of the premise. Gary’s speech about the power of art to create new realities was one such moment for Mr. Lane: You could feel the hope in the hyperbole he spoke of.  Jesse Green is the co-chief theater critic for The New York Times reviewing Taylor Mac's play Gary: a sequel to Titus Andronicus. -- also see Adler on Tragedy and Hegel and acceptance).

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Laborer and the dreamer/poet both perspire.

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What is the scent of man?  What dog will know the odor of humanity in the future?

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Here the poet ties William Blake to contemporary science.
 

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Rascal's poem was inspired by an encounter at the Roundhouse in London.

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Rascal read "Words and Water" at the English Pub.   Nina was in the audience. 

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Rascal's window opened onto the yard, to which only his neighbor and the cat had access.

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In the winter of 1978 Rascal wrote about about passionate pacifists.

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In the winter of '78 Rascal was invited by Daniel Berrigan to sit in on his prison literature class in the South Bronx. Under discussion was Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

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Rascal continued to pen his thoughts on Freddy gone.

From 1942-46, Fred Iskowitz (Irwin) served on four ships: U.S.S. Ranger, U.S.S. Card, U.S.S. Antietam, and U.S.S. Darby.

Fred Irwin (1921-74) was awarded a Victory Medal, American Theater Medal, European African Middle Eastern Area Medal, Asiatic Pacific Area Medal, and Presidential Unit Citation.

According to his sister, Fred was pushed overboard. He felt his years of service were marred by anti-semitism on board the boats and changed his name from Iskowitz to Irwin in 1947.

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While on a retreat to the Delaware Watergap, Rascal meditated on the death of his Uncle Fred.

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In 1974, while on a brief retreat to the Delaware Water Gap, Rascal began composing thoughts on Freddie gone.

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In the summer of 1970 Rascal wrote of what would become of his lines.

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He wanted to share his poetry with the world.  He wanted to seduce all the young ladies.  Rascal hawked his poetry in Regent's Park.

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Rascal sat at a table in the Troubadour coffee house in Earl's Court writing poetry in his journals.  He showed his poem to someone sitting at an adjacent table.  She was not impressed.

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In 1977 Rascal lived alone in his Greenwich Village studio on the ground floor, next door to the police station on one side, with windows onto the grocery store driveway and a window to the building's backyard where the cat would go to play.

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In 1974 Rascal commuted daily on the A train between Bantam Books and Goghi Lee's apartment on the upper west side. 

He worked in the sales department, phoning bookstores and distributors on the west coast to remind them and take orders for the latest titles. 

He also worked on the editorial board of Ted Solotaroff's American Review.

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How can I write this?  Her going was difficult.  She died in her 50s.  Still a young woman.  My visit to her left me feeling like the angel of death.  I read to her poetry about dying.  What was I thinking as she winced at my reading?  This was not going as I hoped.  I could not prevail over her fear and despair.  The nuns had left me alone in the room with her; this sectarian Jewish woman of the Bahai faith.