The poet Karl Shapiro, in his introduction to the 1961 American publication of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer," said, "Morally I regard Miller as a holy man'Gandhi with a penis." This was Miller's first book, and its pages were rife with full, frontal descriptions of sexual joy and despair. He ha

Beats, Bombast, Ebullient, Ecstatic, Erotic, Improvised, In-your-face, Manic, Modernist literature, Overflowing, Perverse, Post-war literature, Sincere

Gene Kelly's blend of acrobatics, athleticism, and artistry blew a potent blast of machismo under the tight skirt of the postwar Hollywood musical. With his auspicious Broadway debut as the lead cad in "Pal Joey" (1940), classically trained Kelly wowed audiences and fellow hoofers with his st

Bubblicious, Charming, Masculine, Overflowing

How can we explain the incredible talent that rises clear as a bell off the scratchy old recordings of bluesman Robert Johnson? If we believe the legends, Johnson got his gift on a lonely Mississippi road when he met up with Beelzebub himself. The devil offered Johnson a musical genius that would tea

Expansive, Gritty, Overflowing, Religious, Saturated, Visceral

In the Preface to his "Leaves of Grass," Walt Whitman wrote: "The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it." His words have shown true for himself, as Whitman's influence is felt everywhere in American poetry. Even one hundred years after "Leaves of Gras

Beats, Epic, Expansive, Homoerotic, Joyful, Layered, Overflowing, Political, Repetition, Romantic poetry, Transcendentalism