The Venice Beat Poets –The Great River Outside the Mainstream
– PHILOMENE LONG
Philomene Long came late to the party, but she soon
made up for lost time with her dynamic personality and soaring poetry. The Beat
scene was a decade old when she arrived in Venice, but Long gave it new life and
energy.
Readers of the Beachhead will know that her
death last August resulted in an outpouring of articles and poems reflecting the
great love and esteem in which she was held by our
community.
She was born in another
bohemian community, Greenwich Village, along with her identical twin Pegarty
Long. After growing up in San Diego, she decided to become a Catholic nun and
lived in a convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet for five
years.
After climbing over the
convent wall one night, Long traveled extensively in Europe and had two
children, Maureen and Patrick, before settling in Venice in 1968. Here she met
Beat Poet Stuart Perkoff, and became his steady companion. When he died in 1974,
she was at his bedside.
Long continued to
write. Some of her books published over the years included The Queen of Bohemia,
American Zen Bones, and with John Thomas, The Book of Sleep, The Ghosts of
Venice West and Bukowski in the Bathtub. An excerpt from her unpublished novel,
Memoirs of a Nun on Fire, appears in The Outlaw Bible of America Poetry. She
also made films and acted, often collaborating with her sister, Filmmaker
Pegarty Long. Her films include The Beats: An Existential Comedy, with Allen
Ginsburg and The California Missions with Martin
Sheen.
In 1974, Long began the study of
Zen with Master Maezumi Roshi. She continued with him until his death in 1995.
She later described herself as a Zen Catholic. Roshi gave Long her Zen name
“Gyokuho” (fragrant jewel). He said, “Your fragrance will
permeate the universe. But there is a reverse side to this as well –
Don’t Be Stinky!” (American Zen
Bones)
In 1983, she married Poet John
Thomas (see February Beachhead, page 9). Long and Thomas were together until his
death in 2002. They lived in the Ellison Apartments at Paloma Avenue and
Speedway for many years. “Cold Ellison” became a theme of a number
of Long’s poems.
In 2005, she was
recognized as the Poet Laureate of Venice by the Los Angeles City
Council.
Long’s poetry
combines a descriptive love of her community with a Zen sensibility that often
takes her poems in directions that are both surprising and pleasurable to the
reader. Jack Kerouac’s concept of beatitude also had a profound influence
on Long. Kerouac said that “Beat” stemmed from beatitude, which he
defined as “trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with
everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of
heart...”
Philomene Long is
generally recognized as one of the major women poets of the Beat Generation.
Even though the Beat milieu was dominated by men, many with inflated egos, she
gave no quarter. It has been said that Long “filled up a room” when
she entered, by virtue of the force of her personality. She was friends with
Allan Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Charles Bukowski, Wanda Coleman, and with Venice
poets Tony Scibella, Frank Rios, and
others.
At an inauguration ceremony
for Councilmember Bill Rosendahl at Windward Plaza in 2005, Long was invited to
read the poem she had written for the occasion (see Beachhead, August 2005).
Much of the poem was a paean to the glory of Venice. When she read it at L.A.
City Hall, to the City Council, at Rosendahl’s invitation, its celebration
of Venichismo caused shock and consternation among the Los Angeles
officials.
Their reaction must have
pleased Philomene, who once wrote: There is no comfort/In the poem./Expect to be
seared/But to have
entry.
•••••
Venice
Holy
Ground
Stained with the blood of
poets
City which
lies
Beneath the breasts of
birds
Guarded by
cats
Behind every
corner
The Muse, Angel of
Surprise
Poems out of pavement
cracks
–Philomene
Long
Her poem, reproduced on the Venice Poetry
Wall in Windward Plaza
Posted: Sat - March 1, 2008 at 03:58 PM
