A letter from Gregory Corso to Hersch Silverman
June 1958

Gregory Corso

Dear Hersch,
thanks for your Hermes rainbow gift
had a choice to pay part of rent or buy lots
                                                                     of food
or go to a Champs Elysee movie
or buy some pot
but wondered awhile about your kindness
and decided to give half to rent
and half the rest to Allen
and with my part I bought a big cake
and lots of cherries
and two bottles of Vitel
and with the final 500 francs I bought
                                                                     some pot
and got myself Allen Bill and BJ high
and in the middle of our high we all
            mentioned our love for a man in New Jersey
                        who runs a candy store
and we decided that you were our neo-wizard
                                  flowing with goodies
                     always with a smile
           always protecting the good in life.
Allen sends his love
I send my love
And if ever I get back to America
India hovers over me like a necessary light
we shall meet and you shall show me Bayonne
exchange poems
and perhaps in due time I can interest you
to join me to find Neptune's golden statue
ten feet high that the Trojans had and
worshipped until Ulysses came and took
            it away and drowned it somewhere in
                        the Aegean.
                                              love,
                                                         gregory

c.2001

To read more amazing letters between these two poets get Long Shot #24 at a better bookstore near you in May, or order from us, or better yet subscribe.