William S Burroughs

My name is Patricia and I'm a Beat generation addict. No, I'm not into the hallucinogenics. No, I don't take heroin and no, I'm definitely not into berets. However, talk to me of Ginsberg, Kerouac and William Carlos Williams for days. I will not complain. I will talk back. So, when I saw the Brisbane International Film Festival was screening two films about the Beat Generation, my interest was sparked immediately. Not one. But two. And not just any two.

The first one was a documentary about William S Burroughs. It used animation in novel and experimental ways to give a sense of the trippy consciousness of the man himself. This feature length doco was a pastiche of styles. It convinced me that I can go out there and flaunt the rules on documentary making with Not A Chance. But enough about me. Let's talk Burroughs.

This is a man who influenced everyone from the Doors, to Kurt Cobain, from Sting, to Andy Warhol. His unapologetic political agenda shone through in his books. He coined the work junkie. He appropriated the work "queer" for a whole movement, in an era when homosexuality was so closeted and secretive that there was no such thing as gay rights. He unpacked the whole idea of using drugs as an artist. He called it "junk".

And then, there's Howl. Allen Ginsberg was taken to court for obscenity because of Howl. To think a poem would make it to the Supreme Court of the United States, because of obscenity charges is well...obscene. Howl has informed and inspired the writing of so many authors in the last 50 years that I've stopped counting. My first encounter with his poetry chilled me. It confronted me. I just can't wait to see the film.

Thank you BIFF, for these morsels that feed the soul. I imbibe them gratefully.