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Binding: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 170.44
EAN: 9781591791881
Format: Unabridged
ISBN: 159179188X
Label: Sounds True
Manufacturer: Sounds True
Number Of Items: 4
Publication Date: 2004-08
Publisher: Sounds True
Studio: Sounds True

Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, William Burroughs, and Diane Di Prima - is there an aspiring poet or prose writer today who would miss a chance to meet and learn with these literary mentors face-to-face, sharing the secrets of their craft? That irresistible opportunity is now available with First Thought, Best Thought, the first landmark release from Naropa University's treasured audio archives.

Selected and edited by poet Randy Roark from thousands of hours of performances and teaching sessions, First Thought, Best Thought offers listeners four rare gems of inspiration and practical wisdom, including: · Allen Ginsberg on how we "discharge the spontaneous energy of genuine experience" onto the page · Anne Waldman on living your poetic practice by melting the boundaries between poetry on the page, performance, and every act of expression you choose to commit · William Burroughs on breakthrough methods for generating fresh writing - including "the cut-up method," chance operations, and dream work · Diane Di Prima on how to survive as an artist: preserving your sensibility; creating a supportive artistic community; approaches to getting published, self-publishing, and more

"First thought, best thought" was the phrase that Allen Ginsberg used to describe the kind of spontaneous, fearless writing taught here - a way of telling the truth that arises from naked and authentic experience. In these thought-provoking sessions, anyone with a passion for words is sure to discover a wealth of insights for expressing themselves with greater immediacy and creativity.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: An Amazing WEALTH of Writing Advice
Review: I've been having an ongoing flirtation with the "Beat Generation" this year, having read Diane Di Prima, Anne Waldman, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, among others. When I stumbled across this set of audio CD's, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. To hear these giants of their generation reading their own works was a dream come true.

The title "First Thought, Best Thought" was the phrase that poet Allen Ginsberg used to describe spontaneous and fearless writing--a way of "telling the truth" that arises from naked and authentic experience.

Here's the gist of the CD's:

*William S. Burroughs teaching his breakthrough methods for generating fresh writing--including "the cut-up method," chance operations, and dreamwork.


*Diane di Prima on how to survive as an artist: preserving your sensibility, creating a supportive artistic community, getting published, self-publishing, and much more.


*Allen Ginsberg exploring every stage of poetic activity--from inspiration, to composition, to revision, to performing your poetry in public.


*Anne Waldman on the elements of the poet's craft--from the raw material of the words themselves to the many aspects of the poem in performance.

I must say that my own writing practice (after listening to these CD's a few times) has been profoundly enriched for the better. I've decided to publish my own poetry and I'm experimenting with the cut-up method suggested by Burroughs. It's a blast and funny has hell at times.

If you need a giant dose of inspiration and/or encouragement for your writing, then by all means, BUY THIS COLLECTION!

Of course, the Universe being a giant cross-reference, these authors led me to other great books: "Women of the Beat Generation" by Brenda Knight was an eye-opening read about the women of that generation.

Here's a blurb from that book: "In many ways, women of the Beat were cut from the same cloth as the men: fearless, angry, high risk, too smart, restless, highly irregular. They took chances, make mistakes, made poetry, made love, made history. Women of the Beat weren't afraid to get dirty. They were compassionate, careless, charismatic, marching to a different drummer, out of step. Muses who birthed a poetry so raw and new and full of power that it changed the world. Writers whose words weave spells, whose stories bind, whose vision blinds. Artists for whom curing the disease of art kills."

I'd also recommend, "Fast Speaking Woman" by Anne Waldman and "Memoirs of a Beatnik" by Diane Di Prima. Ms. Waldman got her inspiration for the title poem from the Shaman, Maria Sabina. So, you MUST read about Maria Sabina in this amazing book, "Maria Sabina: Her Life and Chants" by Alvaro Estrada. Here's a taste of one of her chants:

Because I can swim in the immense
Because I can swim in all forms
Because I am the launch woman
Because I am the sacred opposum
Because I am the Lord opposum

I am the woman Book that is beneath the water, says
I am the woman of the populous town, says
I am the shepherdess who is beneath the water, says
I am the woman who shepherds the immense, says
I am a shepherdess and I come with my shepherd, says

Because everything has its origin
And I come going from place to place from the origin . . .

(Alvaro Estrada, "Maria Sabina: her Life and Chants")

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