Gasoline

What does it mean to write poetry from the streets, from prison, from a childhood of abandonment and survival—to transform suffering into beauty with nothing but raw talent and fierce honesty? Gregory Corso's Gasoline is one of the most electrifying debuts in American poetry—a collection of poems written by a self-taught street kid who became one of the essential voices of the Beat Generation. Published in 1958 by City Lights Books with an introduction by Allen Ginsberg, Gasoline announced the arrival of a major poet whose work combined the spontaneity and jazz rhythms of the Beats with a lyric gift and visionary imagination all his own. These poems crackle with energy, humor, tenderness, and rage—written in a voice that is utterly original, moving effortlessly from surrealist imagery to street slang, from cosmic vision to intimate confession, from comedy to heartbreak.

At first encounter, Corso's poems may seem wild and unruly—their lines leaping from image to image with dizzying speed, their tone shifting from playful to prophetic in a single breath. But Corso is not writing chaos; he is writing freedom, the freedom of a poet who learned his craft not in universities but in the streets and in prison, reading the great poets on his own and discovering that poetry could be a way to transform pain into song. The poems ask: What does it mean to be an orphan, to grow up without family or home, to find your family among poets and outcasts? How can poetry capture the speed and intensity of lived experience without losing its music? What is the relationship between suffering and beauty, between survival and transcendence? Corso offers no easy answers, but he shows us a path: to write with absolute honesty, to trust the spontaneous image, to let the poem go where it needs to go.

For readers seeking contemplative wisdom in unexpected places, Gasoline offers poetry that is both raw and luminous, street-smart and visionary. This collection includes some of Corso's most famous poems—"Marriage," a hilarious and tender meditation on domesticity and freedom; "Bomb," a controversial shaped poem about nuclear destruction; "Ode to Coit Tower," celebrating San Francisco's bohemian spirit; and many others that capture the energy of 1950s New York and San Francisco. This is poetry that refuses to be tamed, that insists on the possibility of beauty even in the harshest circumstances, that transforms the language of the streets into something sacred. It's a reminder that the greatest poetry often comes from those who have nothing to lose, and that the contemplative path can be found not only in silence but in the wild, spontaneous song of lived experience.

What You'll Discover

• Gregory Corso's electrifying debut and essential Beat poetry collection
• Published by City Lights Books in 1958 with introduction by Allen Ginsberg
• Famous poems including "Marriage," "Bomb," and "Ode to Coit Tower"
• Raw, spontaneous verse combining street language with visionary imagery
• Poetry written by a self-taught poet who learned his craft in prison
• Jazz rhythms, surrealist leaps, and fierce honesty
• The voice of a street kid turned major American poet

Gregory Corso (1930-2001) was an American poet and key figure of the Beat Generation. Born in New York City and abandoned by his mother as an infant, Corso spent much of his childhood in foster homes and on the streets. At seventeen, he was imprisoned for theft, and it was in Clinton State Prison that he discovered poetry, reading Shelley, Keats, and other great poets and beginning to write. After his release, he met Allen Ginsberg in a Greenwich Village bar, and Ginsberg recognized his extraordinary talent. Gasoline (1958) established Corso as a major voice, and he went on to publish many collections. Unlike some of his Beat contemporaries, Corso never attended university—he was a true autodidact whose poetry combined street wisdom with deep literary knowledge, creating a voice that was both raw and refined, comic and tragic, utterly his own.

Perfect for: Readers seeking raw, authentic poetry from lived experience, students of Beat Generation literature, those drawn to self-taught visionary poets, admirers of spontaneous composition and jazz-influenced verse, anyone interested in poetry that transforms suffering into beauty, seekers exploring the sacred in street language and everyday life, students of 1950s New York and San Francisco bohemia, readers who love poetry that is both funny and heartbreaking, those interested in prison literature and redemption through art, admirers of poets who write with absolute honesty and freedom.

City Lights Books paperback edition. Corso's electrifying debut—offering raw, visionary poetry from the streets that transforms pain into song and proves that the greatest art often comes from those who have nothing to lose.