in liberation amidst existential chaos in “Peyote
poem” where he states “I am free and open from
the blackness”.
McClure best describes his shamanic verse in
his own terms "I continue to see the poem as an
extension of myself, as a gesture and as an
organism seeking life". In ghost tantras and
selected poems," he creates poetry merely based on
sound rather than meaning aiming again at "the
human spirit and all animals", at our most
primitive emotions, "bare eye and body". In "ode
to Jackson Pollock" he references "Duende” that
which Kaufman sought though Jazz. McClure
seeks it through shamanic chant and dream.
McClure's poetry is a reflection of "journeying"
excess and over-indulgence, again in "Hymn to
St.Geryon" he wails "DO YOU BELIEVE ME
KNOW? Throughout his poetry, McClure is
calmly aware of the forces of destruction and
creation but in the end, acknowledges that these
forces are one of the same. McClure is the most
explicitly "shamanic" of the beat generation but
he is also a mindful artist.
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