"footnote to howl" by allen ginsberg

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 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 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 rebellion 

   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 hallucinations 

   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)