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Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak

Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities! Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind! ... Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisible suburbs! skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic industries! spectral nations! invincible madhouses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!

philangist 7y ago
Howl by Allen Ginsberg for anyone else who didn't know the reference - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl
- csense 7y ago
  This is poetry? It doesn't rhyme.
  - hprotagonist 7y ago
    There was an old fellow called Hugger, Who was captain and mate of a fishing smack; When a yacht crossed his bows, He said: “My word! It’s an awfully good thing it wasn’t a liner.”
  - Balgair 7y ago
    Poetry hasn't been structured in rhyming stricture for ~150 years or so. In English, Walt Whitman was kinda the first 'famous' person to abandon rhyming and meter [0], and dive into 'free verse'. His Leaves of Grass, revised over his entire life, has numerous examples. Some of his best work is here: https://interestingliterature.com/2017/06/10-of-the-best-walt-whitman-poems-everyone-should-read/ https://interestingliterature.com/2017/06/10-of-the-best-wal... Even centuries after his death, I find his poetry to be some pretty wild stuff. Re-examine all that you have been told... dismiss that which insults your soul. Fun Fact: Whitman, a staunch anti-authoritarian and overall structure hater, is one of the few English Poets taught in Chinese schools, as he is considered 'a man of the people'. [0] Super crazy debate on who was 'first' here, if that can even be a thing that can be measured.
    - hprotagonist 7y ago
      anglo-saxon poetry is also not interested in end-rhymes. The metric stress and alliteration are the repetitive linguistic features that shape those works, which are the direct ancestors of modern english. Listen! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes in the old days, the kings of tribes—how noble princes showed great courage!
Balgair 7y ago
Allen Ginberg's Howl : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl A very good essay on Howl and Moloch here : https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ "I raised Moloch to Heaven and all I got was a Disneyland with no children"
- luminaobscura 7y ago
  That article from Slate Star Codex is a miracle. Stars aligned and Scott peaked. And here it is read by Jeremiah: http://traffic.libsyn.com/sscpodcast/Meditations_on_Moloch.mp3 http://traffic.libsyn.com/sscpodcast/Meditations_on_Moloch.m...

philangist 7y ago

Howl by Allen Ginsberg for anyone else who didn't know the reference - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl

csense 7y ago
This is poetry? It doesn't rhyme.
- hprotagonist 7y ago
  There was an old fellow called Hugger, Who was captain and mate of a fishing smack; When a yacht crossed his bows, He said: “My word! It’s an awfully good thing it wasn’t a liner.”
- Balgair 7y ago
  Poetry hasn't been structured in rhyming stricture for ~150 years or so. In English, Walt Whitman was kinda the first 'famous' person to abandon rhyming and meter [0], and dive into 'free verse'. His Leaves of Grass, revised over his entire life, has numerous examples. Some of his best work is here: https://interestingliterature.com/2017/06/10-of-the-best-walt-whitman-poems-everyone-should-read/ https://interestingliterature.com/2017/06/10-of-the-best-wal... Even centuries after his death, I find his poetry to be some pretty wild stuff. Re-examine all that you have been told... dismiss that which insults your soul. Fun Fact: Whitman, a staunch anti-authoritarian and overall structure hater, is one of the few English Poets taught in Chinese schools, as he is considered 'a man of the people'. [0] Super crazy debate on who was 'first' here, if that can even be a thing that can be measured.
  - hprotagonist 7y ago
    anglo-saxon poetry is also not interested in end-rhymes. The metric stress and alliteration are the repetitive linguistic features that shape those works, which are the direct ancestors of modern english. Listen! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes in the old days, the kings of tribes—how noble princes showed great courage!

Balgair 7y ago

Allen Ginberg's Howl : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl A very good essay on Howl and Moloch here : https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ "I raised Moloch to Heaven and all I got was a Disneyland with no children"

luminaobscura 7y ago
That article from Slate Star Codex is a miracle. Stars aligned and Scott peaked. And here it is read by Jeremiah: http://traffic.libsyn.com/sscpodcast/Meditations_on_Moloch.mp3 http://traffic.libsyn.com/sscpodcast/Meditations_on_Moloch.m...