International Poetry Incarnation

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The International Poetry Incarnation was an event at the Royal Albert Hall in London on June 11, 1965.

The event attracted an audience of 7,000 people to readings and live and tape performances by a wide variety of figures, including Adrian Mitchell, Alexander Trocchi, Allen Ginsberg, Anselm Hollo, Christopher Logue, George Macbeth, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael Horovitz, Simon Vinkenoog, Spike Hawkins, Tom McGrath and William Burroughs.

The event was formative for what became the UK underground over the subsequent years. Jeff Nuttall, author of Bomb Culture said "the Underground was suddenly there on the surface". Barry Miles described "a sense of constituency that was never there before... All these people recognised each other and they all realised they were part of the same scene". [1]

Peter Whitehead documented the event on film and released it as Wholly Communion.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fountain, Nigel (1988). Underground: The London Alternative Press 1966-74. Comedia. ISBN 0-415-00728-3. , p18