POEM OF THE DAY -- "Mexican Loneliness" by Jack Kerouac

It should be remembered that the influence of literary icon Jack Kerouac can be felt in many places and on many levels throughout the literary, art and even music worlds... 

For example, Allen Ginsberg asked Bob Dylan how he knew Kerouac's poetry and Dylan replied:  "Someone handed me Mexico City Blues in St. Paul, MN in 1959, and it blew my mind.  It was the first poetry that spoke my language."

Big deal, right?  Well Kerouac poetry is quoted verbatim in dozens of Dylan songs from Highway 61 Revisited spanning his career - up to some of his albums released in the 80's and 90's.

Enjoy "Mexican Loneliness" below; this poem comes from the lauded anthology POMES ALL SIZES which is available (and recommended, by the way) by clicking the link at the bottom of this post. 

Mexican Loneliness

by Jack Kerouac

And I am an unhappy stranger
grooking in the streets of Mexico-
My friends have died on me, my
lovers disappeared, my whores banned,
my bed rocked and heaved by
earthquake - and no holy weed
  to get high by candlelight
  and dream - only fumes of buses,
dust storms, and maids peeking at me
  thru a hole in the door
  secretly drilled to watch
  masturbators fuck pillows -
  I am the Gargoyle
  of Our Lady
    dreaming in space
    gray mist dreams --
My face is pointed towards Napoleon
------ I have no form ------
My address book is full of RIP's
  I have no value in the void,
    at home without honor, -
My only friend is an old fag
    without a typewriter
Who, if he's my friend,
    I'll be buggered.
I have some mayonnaise left,
a whole unwanted bottle of oil,
peasants washing my sky light,
  a nut clearing his throat
  in the bathroom next to mine
  a hundred times a day
  sharing my common ceiling -
If I get drunk I get thirsty
- if I walk my foot breaks down
- if I smile my mask's a farce
- if I cry I'm just a child -
- if I remember I'm a liar
- if I write the writing's done -
- if I die the dying's over -
- if I live the dying's just begun -
- if I wait the waiting's longer
- if I go the going's gone 
if I sleep the bliss is heavy 
the bliss is heavy on my lids
- if I go to cheap movies
the bedbugs get me -
Expensive movies I can't afford
- if I do nothing 
    nothing does

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