Poets speak truth when no one else can or will. That's why the hunger for poetry grows when the world grows dark. When repression grows, when people speak in whispers or not at all, they turn to poetry to find out what's going on.

Diane di Prima

Diane di Prima was an American poet widely considered to be the first, and original, female poet associated with the Beat writers. She and African American Beat writer, Amiri Baraka, published an alternative newspaper together, resulting in her arrest by the FBI on obscenity charges about the same time Lawrence Ferlinghetti was on trial for publishing Ginsberg's infamous Howl. His acquittal changed US writing and publishing laws forever, allowing not only di Prima to continue in her efforts, but for Americans to have access to and read Henry Miller, James Joyce, etc. di Prima died in 2020 after publishing some 30+ books.

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