"Memories of West Street and Lepke" by Robert Lowell (poetry reading)

Lowell was a Conscientious Objector (C.O.) who like Jehovah's Witnesses (J.W.) were opposed to WWII on ethical grounds. For this reason he was "given a year" in West Street Jail in 1943.

The reason why he quotes "hardly passionate Marlborough Street" is that William James, the philosopher, gives it as an example of understatement "Marlborough is hardly a passionate street"

A "hospital tuck" is a neat way of making a bed.

Abramowitz may have been "a jaundice yellow" because he was a vegetarian. Their yellow skin colour comes from the amount of beta-carotene they consume. In jail his diet might have consisted largely of carrot, sweet potato and swede (or rutabaga, as the Americans call it).

I can't find any evidence that the Jewish gangster Louis Lepke Buchalter actually was lobotimised. Perhaps Lowell meant it metaphorically - or perhaps it was a prison rumour. He died in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on March 4, 1944 the only mob boss ever legally executed. http://www.paperlessarchives.com/buchalter.html
His story is here in more detail:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1328690/louis_lepke_boss_of_murder_i...

There's a (probably fictitious) conversation in which Lepke tells him he's in for killing and Lowell replies that he's in for refusing to kill.

Lobotomy is brain surgery, cutting the connections to the prefrontal cortex - hence he "lost connections"

Lobotomy leaves the patients calmer and easier to handle but often unmotivated, unable to care for themselves independently and even incontinent. Later, from 1946, it was discovered that it was easier to perform a transorbital lobotomy through the eye socket, using an instrument like an ice pick. Doctors could do ten such operations in a day in an office setting. Most lobotomies were forced on the patients. The operation is an infringement of human rights: even if it does make patients easier to handle afterwards, it is little short of the Nazi solution - killing them makes subsequent handling even easier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy

You might remember "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in which Jack Nicholson was lobotomised.

In Britain the operation was called a prefrontal leukotomy. I have met people who have been leukotomised, before and after the operation. In my limited experience they were certainly calmer afterwards but very slow and pedantic, limited in conversation, following pointless routines such as writing the same sentence over and over again.

Happiness is not the purpose of life. If you get it naturally then it is a by-product of following good strategies and good-luck.

Life is about fulfulling one's destiny and following the path chosen by the directives instilled by nature or nurture to the sweet or bitter end. Any fool or coward can be "happy": all it takes is drugs, drink, dreams or self-deception: none of these is any different from voluntary lobotomy. I expect that will upset a few more subscribers.

The mugshot of Lepke's face, like the face of evil itself, seems stereotypically unthreatening and banal.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Memories
• West
• Street
• Lepke
• Robert
• Lowell

[drivenfool]

I agree that happiness is best experienced as a side effect of life, but would like to point out that while drugs and drink can wear off, lobotomy is permanent. Most of us (me) have had our foolish moments (years); the good luck comes into play if we are able to learn from them and move on. And don't get me started about Jack Nicholson and lobotomy.

[SpokenVerse]

That's a wise and thoughtful observation and I don't disagree with any of it. I too have come to better strategies by trying bad ones. Drink and drugs only wear off if you stop using them.

[DominusLuna]

A strange thing. Kind of creative.No need to glorify human garbage.

[TheShirEl]

To an asthmatic the act of breathing freely is a gift! To a prisoner a glimpse of the sky is a treasure invaluable!

Go watch the "Shawshank Redemption" and you may get a clue. I personally knew a women, a loving mother and brilliant embezzler, who went to prison to finally become free.

As my late father would say: WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!

Stop wasting time with bullshit. Life is too short as it it.

Love,

ShirEl Too

[TheShirEl]

I disagree. In my view life is a free gift we've been given, yet we fail to appreciate it. We distract ourselves with false expectations fostered by the fantasies of our families, our societies and ourselves.

"Buy X brand cereal to be healthy and lose weight," when said cereal contains a cocktail of chemicals that make us eat more and gain weight. "Buy Y fashions to look sexy and attract a mate;" yet the poor victims modeling these fashions are anorectic adolescent scarecrows.

(continued...)

[rebeccaskye]

lost in words that had only been seen from the out of life state of my past.

too long ago I thought to myself but why should past from today be seen from other eyes

to be the only true meaning of their little life, to me it was only the end. but what do I care. only I knew what was to be of the past today......

David Runions

[TheInfadelKing]

curlicues of marijuana? LAWL!

[bearbagley]

Wow, great work!!