James Broughton often contributed to celebrations by writing poetry for it. In fact he has two printed book versions of his occasion poems. The first, Odes for Odd Occasions Poems 1954-1976
, and then Hooplas: Odes for Odd Occasions 1956-1986.
In them he has poems for other well-known figures who were his contemporaries and friends. “Forget-Me-Nots for Alan Watts On His 50th Birthday” or “Everything Is Connected For Imogen Cunningham’s 90th Birthday” or “An Alleluia for Allen Ginsberg On His Sixtieth Birthday” or “Good Connections for Franklin Abbott and the Atlanta Connection,” for example.
These images holds the two nativity songs he wrote for his children, one for each.
Just for fun, here are two other of his Hooplas poems.
A PRELUDE FOR BRAKHAGE
On first seeing Prelude: Dog Star Man
I saw in the frame
the cosmic game
of all that begins and ends,
I saw the whole screen
of turbulent dream
from which the world descends.
I saw on the sky
a human eye
in search of angelic friends,
I saw in the frame
a man’s heart aflame
with all that begins and ends.
Boulder
14 January 1962
NOTES FOR A KEYNOTE ADDRESS
At the San Francisco Art Institute on my becoming a Doctor of Fine Arts
A teacher’s pleasure is to give good advice.
A student’s pleasure is to ignore it.
Therefore, by all means try all means.
Always expect the unexpected.
Always believe the unbelievable.
When in doubt, cut.
Esthetics is for the artist
as ornithology is for the birds.
Hardening of the categories causes art disease.
Along with everything else
there is a lot of nothing
in they eye of the beholder.
Don’t trip on the leaps of your life – Jump!
Where is the view livelier
than out on a limb?
The reason angels can fly is that
they take themselves lightly.
Adventure, not predicament!
Only the nonsensical is at ease with the absolute.
Embrace the energies that agitate the sea,
fecundate the animals. cause trees
to flower and stars to shine.
As things are now everyone is
mad, asleep, or on the wrong bus.
May 1984