I am deeply grateful to many people and institutions who helped with the compilation of the poems for this book. Peter Hale at the Allen Ginsberg Trust offered constant support and encouragement through the years from inception to final publication. Without his tireless energy and extraordinary efforts this volume simply would not exist.
The people at the Wylie Agency, Jeff Posternak in particular, brought the book to the attention of Grove Atlantic. The team at Grove under the leadership of Morgan Entrekin included Peter Blackstock, Judy Hottensen, and Nicole Nyhan, and they have seen the book through the publication process, producing this beautiful work for Ginsberg’s readers. Allen would have been as happy to work with them as I was.
Heartfelt appreciation goes out to the many people who helped locate and track down various lost texts. Among them Gordon Ball, David Cope, Elsa Dorfman, Bill Gargan, Rachel Homer, Bill Keogan, Ella Longpre, Sterling Lord, Kaye McDonough, Tim Moran, Marc Olmsted, Peter Orlovsky, Simon Pettet, Gary Snyder, John Tytell, Anne Waldman, and Sylvia Whitman deserve special recognition.
Thanks, too, to libraries nationwide, who have carefully preserved Ginsberg’s texts in a wide variety of formats. The libraries at Columbia University, Stanford University, and the University of North Carolina each contain major collections of Ginsberg material. Polly Armstrong, Michael Basinski (University of Buffalo), Claudia Funke, Patricia Hults (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Annette Keogh, Monika Lehman, Nan Mehan, Kathleen Monahan, Karla Nielsen, Tim Noakes, Michael Ryan, Jane Siegel, Aaron Smithers, Mattie Taormina, and Jocelyn Wilk helped with specific items.
Portions of this work have appeared in the following publications, and the Allen Ginsberg Trust is grateful to all of them: American Poetry Review, Beatitude, Big Scream, Big Sky, Bombay Gin, Chicago Review, City, City Lights Journal, Clothesline, Columbia Jester, Columbia Review, Coyote’s Journal, Daily Camera, Damascus Road, Eastside Mirror, Embers, End, Fag Rag, Ferret, Friction, Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts, Great Society, High Times, La Huerta, Ma!, Mag City, Marrahwannah Quarterly, Northern Centinel, Notebook, Poetry Newsletter, Poetry Project Newsletter, Poets at Le Metro, Portage, Possible Flash, Rolling Stone, Seven Days, Shambhala Sun, Shearsman, Spectrum, Strike Newspaper, Synapse, Tax Talk, United Artists, Unmuzzled Ox, Villager, Voices, Washington Post, Wit and Whimsy, and Yugen.
And last but never least, Judy Matz has remained steadfast in her support of this work and this editor for more than forty years. To her I dedicate this and all my efforts.