Venice Loses Its Poet Laureate – Philomene Long, RIP
Philomene Long has died. She was the poet
laureate of Venice, not just by action of the city council, but by the consent
of Venetians. She was also known as the Queen of Bohemia.
Philomene died in her apartment, in her
beloved Ellison at Paloma and Speedway, on August 21. Her death was a shock to
her many friends who knew she was excitedly working on a novel, promoting Beyond
Baroque and fashioning poems to protect the spirit of Venice from
intruders.
Philomene was the last
notable Beat generation poet to live in Venice. She was the companion of Stuart
Z. Perkoff and, later, wife of John Thomas, two of the most renown poets of
Venice. Philomene was known and admired worldwide. Her death is a loss not just
to her sister, family and friends, but to all of
Venice.
She was author of numerous
books, including The Queen of
Bohemia (Lummox Press),
American Zen
Bones (Beyond Baroque Books), and with John
Thomas, The Book of
Sleep (Momentum Press),
The Ghosts of Venice West
and
Bukowski in the
Bathtub (Raven Press). Her
Memoirs of a Nun on
Fire appears in
The Outlaw Bible of America
Poetry (Thunders’ Mouth Press). She was
also a filmmaker. Her works include The
Beats: An Existential Comedy, with Allen
Ginsburg and The California
Missions with Martin
Sheen.
Before coming to Venice,
Philomene had been a Catholic nun for five years. After that, she studied Zen
with Maezumi Roshi for 21 years, until his death in 1995. Her book,
American Zen
Bones, is about this
experience.
Her last published work
“Philomene Long’s Contest for Beachhead Readers,” in the
August issue of the Free Venice Beachhead, delved into Buddhism, pop culture and
comments by contemporaries Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Patti Smith, Stuart
Perkoff and John Thomas. She also included quotes from Buddha, Jesus Christ and
Mary, all of whom would have enjoyed her
company.
In addition to her writing,
Philomene had been working to ensure the long-term survival of Beyond Baroque,
the literary and arts center housed in Venice’s old city
hall.
In her final months, Philomene
– an avid Beachhead reader – became excited about taking a more
active role in the paper. Her future plans included selecting a monthly poem for
our poetry page by one of the great Venice Beat poets, along with an explanatory
note, from her unique perspective, about the poet and the poem. She intended to
start with the entire poems whose excepts appear on the Poetry Wall in Windward
Plaza.
Her other project was to create,
or recreate, a genre of “poems with power,” in her words,
“poems poised to storm from the beachhead for the soul of Venice (in my
mind, America’s last bastion for its
freedoms).”
The Beachhead will do its
best to keep Philomene Long’s memory and work alive. Our Collective joins
her family, many friends and readers in mourning her
loss.
–The Beachhead
Collective
--------------
Philomene
Long's poem on the Windward Plaza Poetry
Wall:
Venice
Holy
Ground
Stained with the blood of
poets
City which
lies
Beneeath the breasts of
birds
Guarded by
cats
Behind every
corner
The Muse, Angel of
Surprise
Poems out of pavement
cracks
Posted: Sat
- September 1, 2007 at 08:35 PM