April 05

"To Aunt Rose" by Allen Ginsberg is a very explicit poem.  It talks openly taboo topics of the human anatomy and wants.  The poem is a little confusing on the first read, but it leaves me with the impression that the narrator is remembering his aunt Rose and a better time.  When there was a cause to support and their family was not wanting for money.  The poem comes to a bitter conclusion in the fourth stanza:

Hitler is dead and Liveright's gone out of business

The Attic of the Past and Everlasting Minute are out of print

                        Uncle Harry sold his last silk stocking

            Claire quit interpretive dancing school

                        Buba sits a wrinkled monument in Old

                                    Ladies Home blinking at new babies (43-48)

Liveright's published Aunt Rose's brother's books and silk is considered a matter of stature and symbolizes a bit of wealth.  With Hitler dead, there was no cause to support.  Life had changed drastically.