HIGHACRES COLLEGIAN
1101;111.11[0410Miloksas106;00;1604 . 11a0)A1
uln.: THE ART OF
I , DISENGAG
BEAT GMERATIO
Like the pillars of Hercules, like
two ruined Titans guarding the
entrance to one of Dante's circles,
stand two great dead juvenile
delinquents- the heroes of the post
war generation: the great saxophonist,
Charlie Parker, A nd Dylan Thomas.
If the word deliberate means any
thing, both of them certainly
destroyed themselves.
Both of them were overcome by the
horror of the world in which they
found themselves, because at last,
they could no longer overcome that
world with the weapons of a purely
lyrical art. Both of them were
py friend S.. Living in Saw Francisco
I saw them seldom enough to see them
with a perspective which was not
distorted by exasperation_or fatigue.
So as the years passed, I saw them
each time in the light of an
accelerated personal conflagation.
The last time I saw Bird, at *limbo's
Bob City, he was so gone --so blind
to the world--that ho literally
sat down on me before he realized
I was there. "Mat happened, man?"
I said, referring to the pretentious
"Jazz Concert." "Evil, man, evil,"
he said, and that's all he said
for the rest of the night. About
dawn he got up to blow. The rowdy
crowd chilled into stillness and
the fluent melody spiraled through
it,
The last time I saw Dylan, his self
destruction had not just passed the
limits of rationality. It had
assumed the terrifying inertia of
inanimate matter. Being with him
was like being swept away by a
torrent of falling stones.
Nowpylan Thomas and Charlie Parker
have a great deal more in common
than the same disastrous end. As
artists, they were very similar.
They were both very fluent. But
FRIDAY OCTOBER 24 1058
this fluent, enchanting utterance
had, compared with important artists
of the past, relatively little content
Neither of them got very far beyond
a sort of entranced rapture at his
own creativity. The principle theme
of Thomas's poetry was the ambivalence
of birth and death--the pain of blood
stained creation. Music, of course,
is not so explicit an art, but any
body who knew Charlie Parker knows
that he felt much the pm° way about
his own gift. Both of them did
communicate one central! theme: Against
the ruin of the world, there is only
one defense-- the creative act.
I an my past and future
and forever
I am the taker and giver
In me all sight and sound
and taste
In me the saving
and the waste
My bosom holds all love
and sorrow
It all may lend and all
may borrow
Omniscience, Ignorance
both my own
—Sin and Sainthood .
both are sown
The seas, the ships, the Universe
but which to cling to?
There's the curse/
*******B*•***o*44•*****•*•***•***
NOTE TO ALL STUDENTS
Wontt you please co—operate with
the Parking Camnittee? Join a
car pool. Save money. Save wear
on your car. Save parking spaces
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POVERTY
Prisca Stiles