Patti Smith - Spell (Footnote to Howl) (2000/06/23)

Recorded live on June 23, 2000 at the Mural Amphitheatre in Seattle, WA as part of the Experience Music Project concert series.


holy holy holy holy holy
holy holy holy holy holy
holy holy holy holy holy

the world is holy, the soul is holy
the skin is holy, the nose is holy
the tongue and cock and hand and asshole
holy

everything is holy, everybody's holy, everywhere is holy
everyday is in eternity, every man is an angel
the bum's as holy as the seraphim
the madman is holy as you my soul are holy

the typewriter is holy, the poem is holy
the voice is holy, the hearers are holy, the ecstasy is holy
holy peter, holy allen, holy solomon, holy lucien
holy kerouac, holy huncke, holy burroughs, holy cassady

holy the unknown buggered and suffering beggars
holy the hideous human angels
holy my mother in the insane asylum
holy the cocks of the grandfathers of kansas
holy the groaning saxophone, holy the bop, apocalypse

holy the jazz bands, marijuana
hipsters, peace and junk and dreams
holy the solitudes of skyscrapers and pavements
holy the cafeterias filled with the millions

holy the mysterious rivers of tears under the streets
holy the lone juggernaut, holy the vast lamb of the middle class
holy the crazy shepherds of rebellion
who digs los angeles is los angeles

holy new york, holy san francisco
holy peoria, and seattle, holy paris
holy tangiers, holy moscow, holy istanbul
holy time in eternity, body, holy eternity in time

holy the clocks in space, holy the fourth dimension
holy the fifth international, holy the angel in moloch
holy the sea, holy the desert, holy the railroad
holy the locomotive, holy the visions, holy the hallucination

holy the miracles, holy the eyeball, holy the abyss
holy forgiveness, mercy, charity, faith
holy ours bodies suffering magnanimity
holy the supernatural, extra brilliant, intelligent kindness of the soul

Allen Ginsberg (Berkeley, 1955)