At the trial of the Chicago Seven, Allan Ginsberg was called as a witness to testify of the police brutality he saw at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. The US Attorney in cross examining him asked if Ginsberg had not read a poem called "Love Poem on a Theme by Walt Whitman" to the assembled protesters. Yes, answered Ginsburg. He said he wanted to recite a religous poem to calm the crowd. Where asked the Prosecutor can anyone find religion in this poem? Ginnsberg replied:
"Walt Whitman said that as part of your nature we have many loves, many of which are suppressed, many of which are denied. He said becoming aware of these loves was the only way this nation could save itself and become a Democratic Nation."
Here is the poem:
I'll go into the bedroom silently and lie down between the bridgegroom and
the bride,
those bodies fallen from heaven stretched out waiting naked and restless,
arms resting over their eyes in the darkness,
bury my face in their shoulders and breasts, breathing their skin,
and stroke and kiss neck and mouth and make back be open and known,
legs raised up crook'd to recieve, cock in the darkness driven tormented and
attacking
roused up from hole to itching head,
bodies locked shuddering naked, hot hips and bottocks screwed into each
other
and eyes, eyes glinting and charming, widening into looks and abandon,
moans of movement, voices, hands in air, hands between thighs,
hands in moisture on softened hips, throbbing contraction of bellies
till the white come flow in the swirling sheets,
and the bride cry for forgiveness, and the groom be covered with tears of
passion and compassion,
and I rise up from the bed replenished with last intimate gestures and kisses
of farewell -
all before the mind wakes, behind shades and closed doors in a darkened
house
where the inhabitants roam unsatisfied in the night,
nude ghosts seeking each other out in the silence.
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