Beatdom #12

Description

Beatdom #12 is the CRIME issue, featuring essays on the criminal history of the central members of the Beat Generation – William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, as well as stories about Herbert Huncke, the Times Square Hustler.

We have interviews with Patti Smith, Amiri Baraka, and Joyce Johnson, as well as essays on Kerouac’s poetry and the Zen ethic in Beat verse. There is also review of Ann Charters and Samuel Charters’ biography of John Clellon Holmes, Brother-Souls.

We take a detour from the Beats to look at Raymond Chandler’s portrayal of Los Angeles’ mean streets, and continue our exploration of crime in a number of poems and short stories by a mix of familiar and new faces.

Contents

Interviews

Joyce Johnson interview by David Wills

Patti Smith interview by Michael Hendrick

Amiri Baraka interview by Michael Hendrick

Essays etc

Joyce rebuttal by Paul Maher Jnr

Herbert Huncke memoir by Spencer Kansa

John Clellon Holmes e essay by Michael Hendrick

WSB & crime essay by Matthew Levi Stevens

Night Shift by Zeena Schreck

American Zen by Philip Rafferty

Fiction

Baby American Dream by Charles Lowe

Bear story by Katy Gurin

Poetry

House of Love by Kat Hollister

Grand Ave by MCD

Apartheid by Holly Guran

Mexico City is Her Graveyard by Jamie McGraw

From Behind Many Hills by Alireza Abiz

Rambo’s Bohemia by Catherine Bull