A Handy Guide for Beggars, Especially Those of the Poetic Fraternity
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
Read by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
"Being sundry explorations, made while afoot and penniless in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These adventures convey and illustrate the rules of beggary for poets and some others."
Published in 1919, this is poet Vachel Lindsay's description of his travels "afoot and penniless" across the southern and eastern United States, staying with strangers, reciting or trading poetry for dinner, and along the way, describing in stories and poetry, mostly stories, the people and places he encountered. Think "Travels With Charlie," minus the dog and the Winnebago, and much, much earlier.
From the Dedication and Preface:
"There are one hundred new poets in the villages of the land. This Handy Guide is dedicated to the younger sons of the wid earth, to the runnaway boys and girls getting further from home every hour, to the prodigals still wasting their substance in riotous living, be they gamblers or blasphemers or plain drunks; to the heretics of whatever school to whom life is a rebellion with banners; to those who are willing to accept counsel if it be mad counsel."
If you remember the 1960's, you'll feel right at home. If you wish you remembered the 1890's, here's your chance. You might also feel right at home, at that.
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Chapters
Reviews
A proto-On the Road: interesting, historical, hints of condescension
Kerrigan McCarthy
A young, adventurous poet hits the road with nothing but the clothes on his back and (presumably) writing materials. More particularly, with no money. He goes walkabout, exchanging poems for food and board. One can't help but wonder if the poems are worth it. This book introduces us to the quotidian life of small town and rural Americans at a particular point in time. History is written by the victors, they say: the rich, the powerful, the influential. Here we see the other side of history. The humble householder beams with pride over his trinkets and minor accomplishments. A small farmer stolidly offers the simplest bed and board in exchange for a poem he probably can't even read. The best of the book is the insight into these people's' lives, attitudes and beliefs. At its worst, it seems opportunistic and even exploitive. A dirt-poor family with barefoot children and scarcely the means to keep bodies and souls together shares what little they have with a poet who's bumming around on a lark. The offer of a poem in this circumstance seems almost like an insult. What use could it possibly be to them, other than kindling? Still, an interesting book.