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curanderos as spiritual potion, for medicine and sacred vision” (note to “Magic Psalm” in Collected Poems , pp. 255–265). Ginsberg wrote the first draft of the poem in one of his journals on 8 June 1960 (recording “Had slight headache, wrote Magic Psalm in large Notebook, went out to Brujo”). Two days later he wrote to William Burroughs, describing a recent ayahuasca trip, very likely the same that inspired “Magic Psalm”. He recounted how he “began seeing or feeling what I thought was the Great Being, or some sense of It, approaching my mind like a big wet vagina – lay back in that for a while – only image I can come up with is of a big black hole of God-Nose thru which I peered into a mystery – and the black hole surrounded by all creation – particularly coloured snaked – all real” (later printed in The Yage Letters , p. 49). It was from this mind- expanding experience that the present poem emerged. “Magic Psalm” was published in February 1961 by the City Lights Bookstore in Kaddish and Other Poems , Ginsberg’s second book. In a note on the final page of the book, Ginsberg writes, of the three ayahuasca poems, that “The message is: Widen the area of consciousness” (p. 100). Two page typescript, stapled at top left corner. Lightly creased at the folds, a handful of small marks and couple of stains, overall very good condition. ¶ William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, The Yage Letters , 1963; Allen Ginsberg, Kaddish and Other Poems , 1961; Allen Ginsberg, Collected Poems 1947–1980 , 1984. £12,500 [158128]
signed top left, “Allen Ginsberg 170 E 2 St Apt 16 NYC NY”, and inscribed top right “This is a penultimate version”. The draft was later given by Ginsberg to Gary Snyder, with his ownership signature top right: an important literary association. Written in June 1960, “Magic Psalm” is an evocative piece from Ginsberg’s time in South America. Ginsberg drafted this version of “Magic Psalm” on his return to America, at his home in New York, where he lived with Peter Orlovksy between August 1958 and March 1961. It offers important insights into Ginsberg’s working methods, with numerous insertions, deletions, and emendations in his hand – a marked contrast to the poet’s “first thought, best thought” credo – and sheds light on the evolution of this particular poem, with his extensive handwritten corrections to this “penultimate version” almost all incorporated into the eventual printed text. Manuscripts from Ginsberg’s symbolic early collections are rare. The draft was later given to fellow Beat Generation poet and essayist Gary Snyder, to whom Ginsberg dedicated another poem in Kaddish , “Laughing Gas”. The two had first met in San Francisco in 1956, and their friendship became one of the central relationships of the Beat scene. Ginsberg introduced Snyder to Jack Kerouac, and Snyder introduced Ginsberg to Buddhism. They travelled to India together in 1962, kept up a correspondence in over 850 letters in the years that followed, and remained close friends until Ginsberg’s death in 1997. “Magic Psalm” records Ginsberg’s visions after drinking ayahuasca (also known as yage), a psychoactive brew that Ginsberg himself described as “a vine infusion used by Amazon
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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