'Peter Orlovsky' (born
July 8 1933 on the
Lower East Side,
New York City) is an American poet best known for being the lover of
Beat Generation poet
Allen Ginsberg.
A high school dropout, he served as a stateside medic in the
US Army during the
Korean War. He met Ginsberg through the painter Robert La Vigne in
San Francisco in December
1954. Orlovsky served as Ginsberg's secretary, traveled the world with him, and was his lover in an
open relationship for four decades.
Orlovsky's publications include the poetry collection ''Clean Asshole Poems & Smiling Vegetable Songs'', number 37 in the
City Lights Pocket Poets Series which includes:
'Second Poem'
''Thank god I have an innocent eye for nature.
''I was born to remember a song about love - on a hill a butterfly
:''makes a cup that I drink from, walking over a bridge of
:''flowers.
Bibliography
★ ''Dear Allen, Ship will land Jan 23, 58'' (1971)
★ ''Lepers Cry'' (1972)
★ ''Clean Asshole Poems & Smiling Vegetable Songs'' (1978) (reprinted 1992)
★ ''Straight Hearts' Delight: Love Poems and Selected Letters'' (with Allen Ginsberg) (1980)
★ ''Dick Tracy's Gelber Hut'' (German translation) (1980)
References
★ Charters, Ann (ed.). ''The Portable Beat Reader''. Penguin Books. New York. 1992. ISBN 0-670-83885-3 (hc); ISBN 0-14-015102-8 (pbk)
External links
★
Good biography
★
Four Poems
★
Peter Orlovsky's papers