To Wait, Or Not To Wait

My pal, David Gilmour sent me his response
after reading my poem, THE WAITING ROOM.
He is a wonderous intellect who never ceases
to surprise me with his insights, bitches,
and epiphanies. He will praise your work with
the one hand and bitch slap you with the other.
But his conversations will run late into the
night, and our mutual love of cinema keeps
us attached. On any given day, at any given
moment, just as I feel I understand this man,
this friend, he peels back another layer of
himself, and showers me with stardust and
molasses. One is never bored in his presence.
He spends much of his time at his cabin in
the mountains of Idaho these days. I miss
our get-togethers.

Glenn Buttkus

His response follows:

Glenn,

Susan and I read your "Waiting Room" poem, which
started out with a road-movie--a lot of Beat-
phrased on-the-road rushing. You still appear
to be in that Beatish groove. I imagine your
last road-trip vacation aroused some of the visions
you revisited in the poem. There are many, many
fine phrases as I read greedily non-stop, which
extemporaneously right feelings to them, as
though they came rushing forth at the speed of a
visionary mind. The business about ghosts and
UFOs doesn't really give me the willies or
turn me on any longer. In fact, spiritual poetry,
just as spiritual theorizing seems to be a waste
of time. The sanctimonious He-God who can't show
his benevolent power, forgiveness or his kindness
much in this world is the one god most of the planet
needs to get over worshipping. The world did it
before with Zeus and Baal, why not with this
impotent He-Fuck-Up? The idea of the sacred does
very much interest me; its necessity for most of
man&womankind is undeniable. Like the little
Anna of Spirit of Beehive, I'm a death-hound:
death does fascinate me, the thought of its wonderful
oblivion. I doubt I'll ever be a suicide since
I've yet to find the ditch of artistic madness
that seems to guide many artists and visionaries
into that resolution.

Don't take this wrong: I do like reading your
poems to get a better sense of your imaginative
life, for poets do reveal much through that
creative window. For another Beat impression
of Waiting--waiting for what?-- here's
Ferlinghetti's piece.

David Gilmour