"Footnote to Howl" by Allen Ginsberg

FOOTNOTE TO HOWL

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! Everyman's 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 Cas-

sady 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 jazzbands marijuana

hipsters peace & junk & drums!

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 rebell-

ion! Who digs Los Angeles IS Los Angeles!

Holy New York Holy San Francisco Holy Peoria &

Seattle Holy Paris Holy Tangiers Holy Moscow

Holy Istanbul!

Holy time in eternity 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 hallucina-

tions 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!
Berkeley, 1955