It was a slow night in the bookstore
so I went over to the literature section
and grabbed a copy of Celine’s
Death on the Installment Plan
and took it back to my post
at the cash register.
I hid it under the counter
because we weren’t supposed
to read on the job
and I didn’t want to get fired.
But just as I opened the book
I heard a loud banging on the front door.
I looked up and saw a disheveled man
throwing himself against it
rattling the glass panes.
“Aw crap,” I muttered,
putting the book away
and leaving my seat
to deal with the problem.
I yanked the door open
and came face to face
with what seemed to be
a broken human being.
When I reached out to restrain him,
a voice from behind me bellowed:
“Back off, Ron! That’s Gregory Corso,
the famous Beat poet!
I have a piece of his in the journal
I’m about to publish!”
“I’m so sorry,” I said sheepishly.
“I had no idea.”
The store’s owner put his arm
around Corso’s shoulder
and escorted him down the stairs
to the basement,
and I returned to Celine,
who now seemed
totally appropriate.
–Ron Kolm
Poetry
10 thoughts on “The Beat Goes On”
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Great story!
Super New York City bookstore poem, Ron! Always entertaining
Ron, you’re a great source of history! That tale is fascinating! Did you know that the deteriorating Corso lived with Laura Boss for a year, of which she wrote in “Living Together”?
https://laurabosspoet.wordpress.com/poems/
Another wonderful bookstore poem! What a succinct and scary portrait.
Ron-so good
great story, as always, greatly told!
Great storytelling here; love your NYC scribes, Ron!
Ok so it has all been said but what I also love about this piece besides the content, the quick and sharp profile of a legend, is the ebb and flow, the rise and fall, the class consciousness deftly placed so we always know who’s boss except when we don’t.
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