Two decades after memorializing his mother Naomi in “Kaddish,” we find Ginsberg working in a very different mode as he actively documents the death  of his father Louis in one, or eventually, two poems with the same name. The first “Don’t Grow Old,” written around the time of Louis’ death, appeared in the collection Mind Breaths in 1978; the latter can be found in 1982’s Plutonian Ode. However the two works were envisioned by Ginsberg as one complete poem, as evidenced by a number of recordings made by Robert Creeley at the time of the second poem’s composition and the broader recorded history contained on Ginsberg’s PennSound author page. As we explore “Don’t Grow Old” (and “‘Don’t Grow Old’”), we’ll witness Ginsberg come to terms with his father through his decline, then see how latter poem reframes that experience through Louis’ reciprocal acceptance of his son’s queer identity, offering up potent lessons in mourning, as well as an important statement regarding homodomesticity and intergenerational reconciliation.

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This episode of PoemTalk brought together Hannah Albertine, Sadie Dupuis, and Dorothea Lasky to talk about three poems in Sadie’s book Cry Perfume. We took advantage of Sadie’s presence in the very studio where we make our poetry recordings and asked her to perform the poems as part of our conversation about them. The book can be acquired HERE. 

This was one of those PoemTalk episodes where the four people in the room knew each other well in various contexts and relational vectors, so — you will notice almost immediately: it gets particularly digressive and almost riotously friendly — all to the better, we feel. Thus during editing Al and Zach decided in favor of leaving in all the deviations, parentheses, detours, and periphrasis. The mode befits Sadie’s verse and, especially, her critique of commodified versions of media from which a poem (or at least these poems) can be exceptions and alternatives. Fuck no to all that, she says — and the PoemTalkers agree.