Louise Landes Levi


Jack Kerouac at 100; 
A Talk given at Ruigoord, Amsterdam, NL

Did I create that sky? Yes, for, if it was anything other than a conception in my mind I 
wouldnt have said "Sky"-That is why I am the golden eternity. There are not two of us 
here, reader and writer, but one, one golden eternity,
 One-Which-It-Is, That-Which- Everything-Is. 
(fr. the Scripture of the Golden Eternity) 

                                                                       *
A 
* 
Am I JACK KEROUAC
NOT 
As a youngster, I meet
 Ginsberg Orlovsky, also Gregory at age 20, 
first informed of them,  indeed introduced  to Gregory
by high school delinquent 
guru boyfriend, 
 
 I go to India 
& relocate to Holland. 
Once free of stifling  but compelling love affair
& after long journey, I meet 2nd. GURU 
somewhat more qualified & live around the corner 
in Amsterdam from Simon (Vinkenoog).
 I now enter the realm of Jack Kerouac,  
not through the book but 
 ON THE ROAD 
 Hilarious adventures  
& some danger, not too much.  
 
  ONE WORLD POETRY 
its 1984 Franco & Udo, first long hitch hike, 
 first truck driver is a poet. He recites; 
Sto bovendo un café molto dolche 
 ed amare perce tu non che sei. 
 Returning, 
on this same journey . 
fr. lst. Dzog ChenTeaching, in Italy, 
I read the TEXTs, like Cut-Ups 
 enscribed on the vehicles, 
especially the trucks. 
TARA  
picks me up, I am delivered, 
safely  
               to  
                                      Amsterdam.
* 

The possibility of liberation
fr. Intense Suffering over rides convention,
dismisses sexuality as convention 
& 
almost  every other form of perception.
Instead of middle aged ‘huis vrouw’
I’m middle aged
‘BEAT’
at least in the eyes of others.

The former associates are 
amazed to see me playing 
on the streets — hitch hiking 1000s  
of kilometers to meet my ‘master’. 
In truth 
I learn ‘concrete’  
speech fr. those behind the wheel
I also learn mind reading,  
as protection, curious images, some very violent, which 
appear in the mind, clearly belong to the ‘other’.
I graciously ask for a coffee stop 
 &
 disappear. 
 
* 

Am I another of Jack Kerouac’s disinherited
daughters? Or his ‘heir’, at least 
 ON THE ROAD 

                                                           * 

We encounter, 
in the occidental poetic, a lack of 
spiritual tradition. In India & Japan, deep respect for 
the Power of the Word, the poetic formula, or  
Utterance has reigned since ancient times. 
In the USA this tradition has been desiccated, the 
greatest genocide in our planetary history:
the America Indian 
We are the red men, now down among 
the dead men, 
HOW.       G. Corso 

 *
 
The ‘BEATS’ 
insist on the liberation
of Body, Mind & Word – they transform
what had  become academic tradition
into a living extension of LOVE
in fact they perform a
spiritual & artistic alchemy.

 *

Poetry, the Spoken Word, the Fiery Tongue 
returns to essence. The Body, via Artaud & onward, 
the Mind, via Pound, Rexroth  in the Netherland 
Bert Schierbeck et.al. set the precedent 
for this transformation. 
 
Simon finds in the roots 
of the Dutch literary heritage 
Jan Luyken Ik meende ook de Godheid woonde & 
Guido Giselle O Wilde Papever Mijne,  
the root of his community  
& 
of the ‘beat’ expression which so attracts him.. 
Graciously & modestly
he opens his door to  
Ginsberg, Orlovsky & Corso. 
I am present 
Doux present du present     J.Prévert 
 
 *

We are faced w. utter calamity, 
look to the Beats, still, for affirmation of community, 
 for a refusal of the War Doctrine & 
 for defense of the Earth. 
Ruigoord 
Galvanizes these aspirations 
 keeps the code & does not transform itself into the usual 
institution. It remain  as a canter
 for creative innovation,  
sans  
POLICE 


*
The BEATS 
were somewhat misogynist, 
not really acclaiming the social feminine, 
they did acclaim the Goddess, 
the great SHAKTI of the Sanskrit tradition
the Shekinah of the Judaic, 
Ginsberg proclaims Holy, Holy,Holy

Kadosh 

This existent creation.
* 
I will read now fr. Kerouac’s 
 early verse & his master work, Mexico City Blues  
(1959) Chogyam Trungpa proclaimed it 
 a perfect manifestation of mind  
&                                     
which I discovered 
appropriately in the library 
if the Ali Akbar school of music,
 in San Rafel, amazed, at its power 
of revelation & its presentation
 of the Buddhist doctrine, 
 in context & terminology

                                                                     * 
   Jack & Allen, 
in the 50s, in NYC were the portals, 
along w. Suzuki Roshi less proclaimed, in San 
Francisco & Alan Watts through which the Buddhist 
Dharma was introduced to the USA Avant Guard 
                                          &  
gradually to the society of large. 

 A LA LA HO 

* 
For when the Tide of Disaster 
Rises water will disintegrate 
And all  be left  
Is the successful savoir Abiding Everywhere 
Beginningless Ecstatic NOBODY

                                                                          *

To further understand what I’m doing
Here at the Kerouac Centennial, in Ruigoord,
not at all an expert on Jack Kerouac
I Return to Margarita island. –

I’m studying w. 2nd Guru
the terton master Namkhai Norbu,
instructed in dream, to reveal the entire
cycle of his ‘terma’, or dream teaching, there
on the Pearl Island, as it’s called,
near Caracas, Venezuela..

I live in the ‘gar’ very simply - attend
The teachings & explore the island, by bike & on
Foot when possible & not too dangerous.

One grey afternoon  I’m
Unusually obsessed w. the Hebrew word
Elohim – meaning grace’or ‘g-d’, What’s the exact spelling –
I recall  the letters  but not perfectly
– In my inner silent vision, I keep looking
for the spelling
of the word.

Now
it’s raining ,
I leave the ‘gar’ to walk to nearby village,
Pedro Gonzales. It’s a very poor
village - no one reads, only recently
has Chavez introduced literacy, to the very poor
& free water. A young man calls to me
He invites me to sit on his ‘veranda’
Until the rain stops.
I agree, sit & watch the rain as
he disappears, into his shanty, returning  after a
few minutes w. a book in hand.  It’s the bible, in Spanish.       
He hands it to me, to pass the time, I open at random, to a page,
where, to my astonishment,
Elohim,
is written in bold Hebrew.
Leaving I look at the face of this individual
& note  he looks EXACTLY like the young
JACK KEROUAC one sees in
Those iconic photos

*
It’s now years later, preparing this, I come
Across, as if by chance, the following
In the City Lights JK Edition
Pomes of All Sizes,

On ETHER
Jordon Belson: Everything is reduced
to its absolute meaning


The Heel of ELOHIM
Ether brings them out


Let slide sweetly
The transformation
Of the thinking.

The Liberation
From Jack Kerouac.


*




Originally presented as spoken word & song, 
at the Jack Kerouac Centennial: Jack Kerouac at 100. 
The Beats in Ruigoord  (9.10.2022)
  
Excerpts reprinted in Italian in ALIAS, Il Manfesto
Ruigoord, Beat e Oltre D. Bellini (17.1.23) 

 With grateful thanks
to Rene Van Voort, for his kind invitation, 
Bastiaan Lips master chef , Ernst de Pon peerless chauffeur

& 
RUIGOORD
for hosting JK at 100
*

Louise Landes Levi is still in Kyoto.

 
 

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