Poem
HULK SMASH
Marc Olmsted
the Hulk is my yidam my chosen anger deity
Marvel comicbook Avenger
blazing in apocalyptic fire
grunting wrathful 4-letter mantras
demolishing years of therapy
concepts of Buddhist attainment
& mastered sobriety
Green...
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Readings
Sensitive Skin Beer Virus Reading #3
The Editors
On April 9, 2020, we had another terrific show via Zoom, featuring readings by:
- Puma Perl (NYC)
- Larissa Shmailo (NYC)
- Marc Olmsted (Portland, OR) and
- Joshua Mohr (San Francisco)
Vinnie Zangrillo (Strong Isla...
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Review
SOUTH AMERICAN JOURNALS January – July 1960 by Allen Ginsberg – review
Marc Olmsted
SOUTH AMERICAN JOURNALS
January - July 1960
by Allen Ginsberg
edited by Michael Schumacher
University of Minnesota Press
$29.95
First, I was immediately struck by how much unpublished poetry or early drafts (such as "Aether" and "Magic Psalm") are contained in this volume - far beyond any previous journal publications of Allen Ginsberg. In fact, he mostly wrote his journal as poetry during this period. Granted much is not A-list material, as Allen correctly understood in not publishing a lot of it. But for earnest scholars and fans, it is a gold mine. There are also amazing little notations of events, such as seeing Montgomery Clift's "Raintree County" ("he too looks sad" - in fact, Monty's face-rearranging car crash occurred in the middle of filming that picture). Likewise a long dream about Marlon Brando, who imitates Jack Kerouac's voice at one point(!) and includes a dream discussion of how great Orson Welles' Magn...
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Review
COLLECTED POEMS OF BOB KAUFMAN – review
Marc Olmsted
COLLECTED POEMS OF BOB KAUFMAN
edited by Neeli Cherkovski, Raymond Foye and Tate Swindell
City Lights Books
$19.95
The surrealism of Bob Kaufman is a true American surrealism, because Kaufman brings the blues, jazz and being a black man in the United States to his subconscious visions. He still remains, in my estimation, America's unequaled surrealist. Just as Beat's other most famous black poet, Amiri Baraka, spawned the Last Poets and the eventual rise of rap, Kaufman's influence is not only present today in Will Alexander and transmale Blackfoot poet Max Wolf Valerio, but in Bob Dylan. It was Amiri Baraka himself who coined the term Afrosurreal Expressionism in 1974 to discussing the work of Henry Dumas, and was later expanded in the Afrosurreal Manifesto by D. Scott Miller. Afrosurrealism is now considered a very active movement, with a wide pantheon that now considers Ted Joans and Samuel R. Delany among its members. ...
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Podcasts
S02E03 – Sensitive Skin Live At San Francisco LitCrawl
Bernard Meisler
Sensitive Skin live at LitCrawl, recorded at the Valencia Room, San Francisco.
Instead of the usual conversation, why not give a listen to last week's Sensitive Skin reading at LitCrawl, live from San Francisco? Reade...
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Book
Sensitive Skin Selected Writing 2016-2018
The Editors
Sensitive Skin Books is proud to present our first writing anthology, Sensitive Skin Selected Writing: 2016-2018, Our (once print, now online only) magazine has been described as "The New Yorker on acid," and "almost underground." For almost 30 years, it has featured writing, art and music by artists famous, infamous, unknown and breaking, everybody from William S. Burroughs to Richard Hell to John Lurie to Alex Katz to Eileen Myles to Gary Indiana.
For many (mostly obvious reasons), our final print issue was released in early 2016. But we thought it would be a valuable resource to collect some of our favorite writing from 2016 to 2018, because print, though more and more difficult to justify producing, is still - well, great.
This 306-page anthology, edited by Bernard Meisler, collects selected stories, poems and essays, published online between 2016 and 2018, so you can finally enjoy them in physical book (and Kindle - we ma...
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Podcasts
Season 2 Episode 0
Bernard Meisler
A season-opening mini-episode of the Sensitive Skin podcast featuring your host, Bernard Meisler.
I discuss some of last season's 20 podcasts, what I learned, and the new upcoming season of another 20. Our first guest wil...
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Review
ON VALENCIA STREET – Jack Micheline – Review
Marc Olmsted
ON VALENCIA STREET
Jack Micheline
Edited by Tate Swindell
Introduction by Eric Mingus
Lithic Press
$20.00
Jack Micheline is not so much an unsung but undersung member of the Beat Generation, a fixture on the San Fra...
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Review
The Criminal: The Invisibility of Parallel Forces by Max Wolf Valerio – Review
Marc Olmsted
The Criminal: The Invisibility of Parallel Forces
by Max Wolf Valerio
Eoagh Books, $20.00
Reviewed By Marc Olmsted
MAX WOLF VALERIO said, “Before I transitioned, I was 19 and showed Allen Ginsberg a poem of mine ...
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Poem
Frankie
Marc Olmsted
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Review
Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World – Review
Marc Olmsted
Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World
By Tosh Berman
City Lights Books
$17.95
reviewed by Marc Olmsted
I first came across Wallace Berman's artwork in an underground newspaper in the late '60s - I can no long...
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Story
Drunken Turkey
Marc Olmsted
We got along and loved each other the way people do who share an interest in drugs and alcohol and sex. We loved each other in an animal way.
We never got married but were together a total of 7 years until it finally f...
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DON’T HIDE THE MADNESS—William S. Burroughs in Conversation with Allen Ginsberg–reviewed
Marc Olmsted
DON'T HIDE THE MADNESS
William S. Burroughs in Conversation with Allen Ginsberg
(Steven Taylor, ed.)
Three Rooms Press
$26.00
Those lucky enough to have socialized with William Burroughs report the best situations had...
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Story
Screw
Marc Olmsted
It was the end of the 80s into 1990 and very hard for us to find a good rock n roll dance club in San Francisco. Everything was disco electronica and it all sounded the same with that amyl nitrate bass beat. The more inter...
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