Dick McBride reads William Carlos Williams' introduction to Howl
Published on March 24th, 2025
In 1993, Dick attended Allen Ginsberg's reading at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Unfortunately, Ginsberg was delayed by British Rail, so P. J. Kavanagh and John Calder stalled for time by talking about Ginsberg's life and work.
Calder read Howl to fill the silence but eventually ran out of steam. As the audience was getting restless, Dick stepped in:
Before I could take over where John had left off a member of the audience called out a request that I read William Carlos Williams' introduction to Howl, which I did and just as I finished the audience broke into applause. My first thought was, Heck, I know I read well, but I wasn't that good, when I looked up and saw Allen approaching the stage (good old British Rail).
Dick's account of the event is included in Allen Ginsberg & The Blue Rinse Brigade, his affectionate memoir of Allen Ginsberg.
You can listen to a recording of the event via SoundCloud: