The Poet, Allen Ginsberg and His Running Mate!

The Poet, Allen Ginsberg’s and His Running Mate!
(Please read notes for better interpretation of poem)

He was running from the devil—during his last days,
he tried to be an agnostic, but was really an angry atheist,
always getting in God’s face, he never gave God an inch,
just insults as if he wanted him to change his rules, His
ways, change the status of his beliefs, for his ways!
to let folks like him into heaven (he and his ex-lover
William Burroughs thought the same way, and played
the same games, except Burroughs outlived Allen by
four months, he had to get rid of his cats first, or
was it the rats? –he also left his letters of piety, for
mankind and the devil to read whom laughed over
them I’m sure—such a pity, all drug infested).
Allen Ginsberg even implied he was going to hell for
his lustful, obsessive, grotesque, possessive desires:
contributed to the insane American way of life, so he
proclaimed, which he liked, grabbed onto, like
white on rice, like mice to cheese, yet ridiculed. But as I
was saying, he was being chased, running from demon
whom came for him—on that last doomful day—for he
was a man of letters, he wrote what he lived, believed; if
anything he was overly honest, in a pitiful way!
Thus, I do believe they perhaps came for him once before,
but spared him the day, so they could play some more;
But his day, was his day to die, and I believe these
demon wanted to drag him down to the underground
world, and his hours were few, and short, and the horse he
was on had no name or route, so he kept saying 'giddy yap'
and with his mind and feet, he tried to defeat the devil
(running in circles, and more circles, on an endless path);
Yes, he tried to defeat the devil, whom was his master
in foreplay, and now his running mate, and when they
were side by side, neck to neck, shoulder to shoulder,
thigh to thigh, eye to eye, he told the death to shut up,
and death said (with the devil laughing behind) "I never
get tired, I can run and run and run, until there is no
sun, run and run until twilight comes, run and run
until that old heart of your’s stops beating, be it another
hour or ten, or hundred, it doesn’t matter, and for the devil,
he can too…!" and the horse and Allen keep going,
and going and going, running everywhichway,
until there was no more giddy-yap left, and death
was then on top of him, like a vulture to a corpse—
like a mouse to cheese, like a worm to dirt, like a
fish to water, like: and the devils dragged him down, down
deep into the ground, like a dead lion, or bull, to scheol’s courts
to the docks of hell, to where there would never be another day.


Note: Allen Ginsberg wrote only a few poems before he died, which was perhaps for the better of mankind. Matter-of-fact, his last poem was on March 30th 1997, a week before his death (he died April 5, of the same year). On March 24th he wrote "Giddy-yap giddy yap giddy yap shut up." This basically was all he had to say in the six line poem. Not a very intriguing poem to say the least. But what was he saying? In many of my studies with people dying, in psychology, working with the aging folks, I look at what I consider unusual behavior, and this out of the ordinary behavior struck me as meaningful, it had touch of reality to it, I have witnessed similar at times, so looking at his past, knowing his behavior, and his poetry, what was he really saying? We all interpret things the way we want, yet there is a pattern if you study his last writings, and so here is my interpretation of those almost final words, during his final two weeks of his life:

#2313 ((3-8-2008)(modified 4-14-2008))