Collected Poems 1947-1997 In Society I walked into the cocktail party room and found three or four queers talking together in queertalk. I tried to be friendly but heard myself talking to one in hiptalk. "I'm glad to see you," he said, and looked away. "Hmn," I mused. The room was small and had a double-decker bed in it, and cooking apparatus: icebox, cabinet, toasters, stove; the hosts seemed to live with room enough only for cooking and sleeping. My remark on this score was understood but not appreciated. I was offered refreshments, which I accepted. I ate a sandwich of pure meat; an enormous sandwich of human flesh, I noticed, while I was chewing on it, it also included a dirty asshole. More company came, including a fluffy female who looked like a princess. She glared at me and said immediately: "I don't like you," turned her head away, and refused to be introduced. I said, "What!" in outrage. "Why you shit-faced fool!" This got everybody's attention. "Why you narcissistic bitch! How can you decide when you don't even know me," I continued in a violent and messianic voice, inspired at last, dominating the whole room Dream New York-Denver, Spring 1947 Collected Poems 1947-1997 . Copyright © by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Collected Poems, 1947-1997 by Allen Ginsberg All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
