SOURCE: “Introductory Shot,” in Unmuzzled Ox, Vol. 2, Nos. 1–2, 1973.

In the essay below, Beyle describes Corso's point of view as childlike.

Kirby Congdon, in his introduction to Corso's recent Dear Fathers, describes him as “the most important poet of the fifties.” This leads to a question: what happened in the sixties? And the questionable—those things crotchety fifties critics disliked—remains. In the interview, Corso answers many of the questions. Here, I will try to set up a preliminary context, both to introduce the interview and Corso's achievement.

“Corso, by some definitions, may not yet even be technically a poet.” Richard Brukenfield defended Corso's first book against critics by whose definition Corso was soon less a poet. Like Breton and the surrealists, Corso writes, often, a spontaneous poetry. In introducing his second book, Corso uses the analogy of jazz—

When Bird Parker or Miles Davis blow a standard piece...