Thanks to Brian H. for his e-mail, with the subject line: “curious”.

As a hard-line right-winger and a fan of Bob’s how do you deal with the knowledge of Bob’s friendship with Allen Ginsberg?

Well, I think it speaks well of Bob Dylan that he was willing to stay friendly with someone who was troubled in the ways that Mr. Ginsberg apparently was. I don’t think that there are all that many people — even those who are not “hard-line right-wingers” — who could easily put aside someone’s membership in and advocacy for the North American Man/Boy Love Assocation. But then, it doesn’t take long listening to Dylan’s songs — from any phase of his career — to know that he proceeds with an internalized knowledge that we are all sinners. However, I think it would be absolutely nuts to think or to insinuate that because Dylan respected Ginsberg as a poet and valued him as a human being, that he therefore shared his point of view on political issues ranging from NAMBLA to anything else.

An equally or even more valid question to ask might be: How do hardline left-wing fans of Allen Ginsberg deal with his friendship with Bob Dylan?

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Addendum: Thanks to Richard for this note:

Being a left-wing (I don’t know about “hard-line”) fan of both of these poets I’m wondering where the conflict is.

What do we have here:

2 flawed human beings who seem to understand the condition
2 champions of justice
2 working artists who revolutionized their forms, and were pilloried for the same
2 celebrities who are on record as having said some silly things, done some stupid things, and in many ways aren’t what they seem or we see
2 guys who liked and admired each other – personally and professionally – though they may not have always agreed with one another, i.e friends

and just think about their lineage as poets – linked and symbiotic.

Right wing/Left wing – drawing lines in the sand does nothing but separate us. I gotta say, it drives me nuts when we run to the poles rather than the middle, shout at each other over the expanse, and call it dialogue.

(mea culpa/te absolvo.)

Peace, brother.

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