The Anarchist LibraryAnti-CopyrightSeptember 13, 2014

Diane di PrimaRevolutionary Letters

May 1968-December 19711971

Scanned from 2014 anonymous reprint.Anonymous reprint (2014) of Third Edition,

March 1974, City Lights Books, San Francisco

Diane di Prima

Revolutionary LettersMay 1968-December 1971

1971

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Free meFree meHelp to free meFree yourselfHelp to free meFree yourselfHelp to free meFree Barry GoldwaterHelp to free meFree Governor WallaceFree President Nixon.Free J Edgar HooverFree them;Free yourselfFree themFree yourselfFree yourselfFree themFree yourselfHelp to free meFree usDANCEMay 1968-Dec 1971.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTEDiane di Prima was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1934, a second

generation American of Italian descent. Her maternal grandfather,Domenico Mallozzi, was an active anarchist, and associate of CarloTresca and Emma Goldman. She began writing at the age of seven,and committed herself to a life as a poet at the age of fourteen. Forthe past thirty-four years she has lived in northern California, raisingfive children. In the late ’60s she took part in the political activitiesof the Diggers and is widely considered the most important womanwriter of the Beat movement.

ddiprima@earthlink.net

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Contents

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8REVOLUTIONARY NOTE #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #43 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #47 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #49 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #51 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #55 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #58 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #59 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #62 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #63 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

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All prisoners are political prisonersEvery pot smoker a political prisonerEvery holdup man a political prisonerEvery forger a political prisonerEvery angry kid who smashed a window a political prisonerEvery whore, pimp, murderer, a political prisonerEvery pederast, dealer, drunk driver, burglarpoacher, striker, strike breaker, rapistPolar bear at San Francisco zoo, political prisonerAncient wise turtle at Detroit Aquarium, political prisonerFlamingoes dying in Phoenix tourist park, political prisonersOtters in Tucson Desert Museum, political prisonersElk in Wyoming grazing behind barbed wire, political prisonersPrairie dogs poisoned in New Mexico, war casualties(Mass grave of Wyoming bald eagles, a battlefield)Every kid in school a political prisonerEvery lawyer in his cubicle a political prisonerEvery doctor brainwashed by AMA a political prisonerEvery housewife a political prisonerEvery teacher lying thru sad teeth a political prisonerEvery Indian on reservation a political prisonerEvery black man a political prisonerEvery faggot hiding in bar a political prisonerEvery junkie shooting up in John a political prisonerEvery woman a political prisonerEvery woman a political prisonerYou are political prisoner locked in tense bodyYou are political prisoner locked in stiff mindYou are political prisoner locked to your parentsYou are political prisoner locked to your pastFree yourselfFree yourselfI am political prisoner locked in anger habitI am political prisoner locked in greed habitI am political prisoner locked in fear habitI am political prisoner locked in dull sensesI am political prisoner locked in numb flesh

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whose dream those hierarchies: planets & starsblindly obeying fixed laws, as they desireus, too, to stay in placewhose interest to postulateman’s recent blind “descent” from “unthinking” animalsour pitiable geocentric isolation:lone voice in the stars//what point in this cosmology but to drainhope of contact or change/oppressing us w/“reason”

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #63Free Julian BeckFree Timothy LearyFree seven million starving in PakistanFree all political prisonersFree Angela DavisFree Soledad brothersFree Martin Sobel. . . . ’Free Sacco & VanzettiFree Big Bill HaywardFree Sitting BullFree Crazy HorseFree all political prisonersFree Billy the KidFree Jesse JamesFree all political prisonersFree Nathan HaleFree Joan of ArcFree Galileo & Bruno & EckhartFree Jesus Christ:Free SocratesFree all political prisonersFree all political prisoners

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dedicated to Bob Dylan

PUBLISHER’S NOTE:This version published 2005 without permission, and is based on

the 3rd edition of the work by City Lights.Anti-profit, anti-copyright.Revolutionary Letters has been out of print for many years, and

we wanted to bring it back.Look for an expanded edition, rumored to come out soon from

Last Gasp Press of SF.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #1I have just realized that the stakes are myselfI have no otherransom money, nothing to break or barter but my lifemy spirit measured out, in bits, spread overthe roulette table, I recoup what I cannothing else to shove under the nose of the maitre de jeunothing to thrust out the window, no white flagthis flesh all I have to offer, to make the play withthis immediate head, what it comes up with, my moveas we slither over this go board, stepping always(we hope) between the lines

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #2The value of an individual life a credo they taught usto instil fear, and inaction, ‘you only live once’a fog in our eyes, we areendless as the sea, not separate, we diea million times a day, we are borna million times, each breath life and death:get up, put on your shoes, get

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started, someone will finish//Tribean organism, one flesh, breathing joy as the starsbreathe destiny down on us, getgoing, join hands, see to business, thousands of sonswill see to it when you fall, you will growa thousand times in the bellies of your sisters

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #3store water; make a point of filling your bathtubat the first news of trouble: they turned off the waterin the 4th ward for a whole day during the Newark riots;or better yet make a habitof keeping the tub clean and full when not in usechange this once a day, it should be good enoughfor washing, flushing toilets when necessaryand cooking, in a pinch, but it’s a good ideato keep some bottled water handy tooget a couple of five gallon jugs and keep them fullfor cooking//store food — dry stuff like rice and beans stores bestgoes farthest. SALT VERY IMPORTANT: it’s health and energyhealing too, keep a couple poundssea salt around, and, because we’re spoiled, some tinstuna, etc. to keep up morale — keep up the senseof ‘balanced diet’ ‘protein intake’ rememberthe stores may be closed for quite some time, the trucksmay not enter your section of the city for weeks, you can cool it

indefinitely//with 20 lb brown rice20 lb whole wheat flour10 lb cornmeal

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of revolution by the founding fathers“Constitution written by a bunch of gangstersto exploit a continent” is whatCharles Olson told me.Check Shay’s rebellion, Aaron Burr, Nathan Hale.Who wrote the history books where youwent to school?Check Civil War: maybe industrial northneeded cheap labor, South had it, how manysincere “movement” peoplewriters & radicals playedinto their hands?Check Haymarket trial: it broke the backof strong Wobblie movement: how many jailed, fined,killed to stop that one? What’s happening to ushas happened a few times beforelet’s change the script//What did it take to stop the Freedom RidersWhat have we actually changed?month I was bornthey were killing onion pickers in OhioMonth that I write this, nearly 40 years laterthey’re killing UFW’s in the stateI’m trying somehow to live in. LET’S REWRITEthe history books.History repeats itselfonly if we let it.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #62check Science: whose interest does it serve?whose need to perpetratemechanical dead (exploitable) universeinstead of living cosmos?//

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the man wont hesitate to raze those ghettos& few will see, & fewer will object.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #60First Observable Effects of So-Called “Energy Crisis” (Fall 1973)1. off-shore drilling renewed, Santa Barbara & elsewherewe can expectnew off-shore wells to be openedregardless of consequences2. price of crude oil shoots sky-high, makingthe extraction of shale oil feasible (profitable)which shale oil territory has been preparedfor exploitation by forcing beef prices up, advocatingbeef boycots, forcingsmaller ranches toward bankruptcy3. Peabody Coal plans to occupy Cheyenne landon legal grounds they are “incapable”of exploiting its “natural resource”, i.e.dont wait to extract minerals at the costof all else4. grim austerity consciousnessempty shelves & stiff upper lip& plenty of hoarding, reminiscentof early 40’s, conditioned reflexright psychological climate for WW III5. of course, police & military will have enough gas& how will you liketo be stationary populace in the gripof a mobile army?

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #61Take a good lookat history (the American myth)check sell out

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10 lb good beans — kidney or soy5 lb sea salt2 qts good oildried fruit and nutsadd nutrients and a sense of luxuryto this diet, a squash or coconutin a cool place in your pad will keep six months.//remember we are all used to eating lessthan the ‘average American’ and take it easybefore weever notice we’re hungry the rest of the folk will be starvingused as they are to meat and fresh milk dailyand help will arrive, until the day no help arrivesand then you’re on your own.//hoard matches, we aren’t goodat rubbing sticks together any morea tinder box is useful, if you can work itdon’t count on gas stove, gas heaterelectric lightkeep hibachi and charcoal, CHARCOAL STARTER a helpkerosene lamp and candles, learn to keep warmwith breathingremember the blessed American habit of bundling

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #4Left to themselves peoplegrow their hair.Left to themselves theytake off their shoe’s.Left to themselves they make lovesleep easilyshare blankets, dope & childrenthey are not lazy or afraid

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they plant seeds, they smile, theyspeak to one another. The wordcoming into its own: touch of love;on the brain, the ear.//We return with the sea, the tideswe return as often as leaves, as numerousas grass, gentle, insistent, we rememberthe way,our babes toddle barefoot thru the cities of the universe.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #5at some pointyou may be called uponto keep going for several days without sleep:keep some ups around, to beclearheaded, avoid ‘comedown’ as much as possible,take vitamin B along with amphetamines, trypowdered guarana root, availableat herb drugstores, it is an upused by Peruvian mountainfolk, tasteslike mocha (bitter) can be put in teawill clear your head, increase oxygen supplykeep you going past amphetamine wooziness//at some pointyou may have to crash, under tension, keep some downson’ hand, you may have to cool outsickness, or freak-out, or sorrow, keep some downson hand, I don’t meantranquillizers, ye olde fashioned SLEEPING PILL(sleep heals heads, heals souls) chloryll hydrate(Mickey Finn) one of the best, butnembutal, etc. OK in a pinch, rememberno liquor with barbiturates//

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& watch the hills flicker like dreamskin

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #58What we need to know is laws of time & spacethey never dream of. Seek outthe ancient texts: alchemyhomeopathy, secret chartsof early Rosicrucians (Giordanisti).Grok synchronicity Jung barelyscratched the surface of.LOOK TO THE “HERESIES” of EUROPE FORBLOODROOT(remnants of pre-colonized pre-Roman Europe):Insistent, hopeful resurgence of communardsfree love & joy; “in god all things are common”secret celebration of ancient season feasts & moons.Rewrite the calendar.//Head-on war is the mistake we maketime after timeThere is a way around it, way to outflanktechnology, short circuit“energy crisis”: retreat & silencecunningcourage & love

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #59Look to the cities, see how “urban renewal”tears out the slums from the heart of townforces expendable poor to the edges, to someremote & indefensible piece of ground:Hunters Point, Lower East Side, Columbia Pointout of sight, out of mind, & when bread riots come(conjured by cutting welfare, raising prices)

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standing idle & tall againsthorizon: “savage” landscapewe stare, poverty-struckat New England pewter infarmhouse window: quoteAdams, Jefferson, hewmap of the sacred meadow//this was theland we were promised,wasnt it? is Fresnonew Jerusalem? whereis Dallas? how wd Olson/Pound/Tom Paine explainPetaluma. Over & over Kirby Doylemadtells tale of his grandfather walking outof the deserthis wife & two sons waiting in a wagon(he had the mule)& the boatsin Gloucester, Newfoundland & Greece(the same)the woodcarved in Alaska & New Guinea . . .Over & over we seek that savage mansufficient & generous; we findRockefeller, Nixon;sad letters of Jeffersonmourning the ravaging of moundbuilders’ landrequesting his daughter not to neglect her French.We; over & over; seeking line & formgold-leaf as in Sienna“outline” as Blakewe sit on shifting groundat the edge of this ocean“as far from Europe as you can get”

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at some pointyou will need painkillers, darvonis glorified shit, stash some codeine & rememberit’s about five times more effectiveif taken with aspirin//ups, downs & painkillers arethe essence: antibioticsfor extreme infections, any goodwide-spectrum one will do, avoid penicillintoo many allergies, speaking of whichcortisone is good for really bad attacks(someone who freaks out asthma-style, or with hives)//USE ALL THESE AS LITTLEas possible, side effects multifariousand they cloud the braintend to weaken the body and obscurejudgment//ginseng tea, ginger compresses, sea salt,prayer and loveare better healers, easier come by, save the othersfor life and death trips, you will knowwhen you see one

REVOLUTIONARY NOTE #6avoid the folkwho find Bonnie and Clyde too violentwho see the blood but not the energy formthey love us and want us to practice birth controlthey love us and want the Hindus to kill their cowsthey love us and have a colorless tasteless powderwhich is the perfect synthetic food . . .

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REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #7there are those who can tell youhow to make molotov cocktails, flamethrowers,bombs whateveryou might be needingfind them and learn, defineyour aim clearly, choose your ammowith that in mind//it is not a good idea to tote a gunor knifeunless you are proficient in its useall swords are two-edged, can be used against youby anyone who can get ‘em away from you//it ispossible even on the east coastto find an isolated place for target practicesuccesswill depend mostly on your state of mind:meditate, pray, make love, be preparedat any time, to die//but don’t get uptight: the gunswill not win this one, they arean incidental part of the actionwhich we better damn well be good at,what will winis mantras, the sustenance we give each other,the energy we plug into(the fact that we touchshare food)the buddha natureof everyone, friend and foe, like a million earthwormstunnelling under this structuretill it falls

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//All I can sayis what my daughter age six once said to me:“if I can’t pronounce itmaybe I shouldn’t eat it.”or, Dick Gregorycoming out of a 20-day fast:“the people of America are controlledby the food they eat”

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #55All thru Amerikaall I see & find isIndian Americathe forms & shapes ofGreat-Turtle-Island

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #56The forms proliferate.As we spin (further) from the lightour bodies sprout new madnessescongenital pale disease, like new plantson the edge of (radioactive) craterswe sprout new richness of designbaroque apologies for Kaliyugatill Kether calls us homehauls in the galaxies like somebig fish.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #57NOTES TOWARD AN AMERICAN HISTORYOver & over I’ve look forthe picture in the cloth: man

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REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #54It takes courage to say no//No to canned corn & instantmashed potatoes. No to rice krispies.No to special K. No to margarinemono & di-glycerides, NSDAfor coloring, causing cancer. No towhite bread, bleached w/nerve gas (wonderbread). No to everything friedin hardened oil w/silicates. No toonce-so-delicious salami, now redw/sodium nitrate.//No to processed cheeses. Nono again to irradiated bacon, pinkphosphorescent ham, dead plasticpasteurized milk. No to chocolate puddinglike grandma never made. No thanxto coca-cola. No to freshness preserves,dough conditioners, nopotassium sorbate, noaluminum silicate, NOBHA, BHT, NOdi-ethyl-propyl-glycerate.//No more ice cream? not w/embalming fluid.Goodbye potato chips, peanut butter, jelly, jollywhite sugar! No more DESall-American steaks or hamburgers either!Goodbye, frozen fish! (dipped & coated w/aureomycin) Fried eggs over easy w/hormones, penicillin & speed.Goodbye, frozen fish! (dipped & coated w/Carnation Instant Breakfast, Nestle’s Quik.Fritos, goodbye! your labels are very confusing.

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REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #8Everytime you pick the spot for a be-ina demonstration, a march, a rally, you are choosing the groundfor a potential battle.You are still calling these shots.Pick your terrain with that in mind.Remember the old gang rules:stick to your neighborhood, don’t let them lure youto Central Park everytime, I would hateto stumble bloody out of that park to find help:Central Park West, or Fifth Avenue, which would youchoose?//go to love-inswith incense, flowers, food, and a plastic bagwith a damp cloth in it, for tear gas, wear no jewelrywear clothes you can move in easily, wear no glassescontact lensesearrings for pierced ears are especially hazardous//try to be clearin front, what you will do if it comesto troubleif you’re going to try to split stay out of the centerdon’t stampede or panic othersdon’t waver between active and passive resistanceknow your limitations, bear contemptneither for yourself, nor any of your brothers//NO ONE WAY WORKS, it will take all of usshoving at the thing from all sidesto bring it down.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #9advocating

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the overthrow of government is a crimeoverthrowing it is something elsealtogether, it is sometimes calledrevolutionbut don’t kid yourself: governmentis not where it’s at: it’s onlya good place to start:1. kill head of Dow Chemical2. destroy plant3. MAKE IT UNPROFITABLE FOR THEM to build again.i.e., destroy the concept of moneyas we know it, get rid of interest,savings, inheritance(Pound’s money, as dated coupons that come in the mailto everyone, and are void in 30 daysis still a good idea)or, let’s start with no money at all and invent itif we need itor, mimeograph it and everyoneprint as much as they wantand see what happens//declare a moratorium on debtthe Continental Congress did‘on all debts public and private’& no one ‘owns’ the landit can be heldfor use, no man holding morethan he can work, himself and family working//let no one work for anotherexcept for love, and what you make above your needs be given to

the tribea Common-Wealth//None of us knows the answers, think aboutthese things.

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fifty years ago, & in China.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #52SAN FRANCISCO NOTEI think I’ll stay on thisearthquake fault near thisstill-active volcano in thisarmed fortress facing adying ocean &covered w/dirtwhile thestreets burn up & therocks fly & pepper gaslays us outcausethat’s where my friends are,you bastards, not thatyou know what that means//Ain’t gonna cop to it, ain’t gonnabe scared no more, we allknow the same songs, mushrooms, butterflieswe allhave the same babies, dig itthe woods are big.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #53HOW TO BECOME A WALKING ALCHEMICAL EXPERIMENTeat mercury (in wheat & fish)breathe sulphur fumes (everywhere)take plenty of (macrobiotic) salt& cook the mixture in the heatof an atomic explosion

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the pattern, but we canbreak the pattern//learn now we seewith all our skin, smell with our eyes toosense & sex are boundless & the callis to be boundless in them, make the joynow, that we want, no shapefor space & time now but the shapes we will

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #49Machinery: extended hands of mandoing man’s work. Diverted riverswashing my clothes, diverted firedancing in wires, making light;and heat. To see it thus is to see it, evendiverted rivers must resume their course, and fireconsume, whatever name you call it.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #50As soon as we submitto a system based on causality, linear timewe submit, again, to the old values, plunge againinto slavery. Be strong. We have the right to makethe universe we dream. No need to fear “science” grovellingapology for things as they are, ALL POWERTO JOY. which will remake the world.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #51Don’t give up the eleven o’clock news forChairman Mao, don’t switchfrom one “programming” to anotherhang loose, Mao was young

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The day will come when we have to knowthe answers.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #10These are transitional years and the dueswill be heavy.Change is quick but revolutionwill take A while.America has not even begun as yet.This continent is seed.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #11drove acrossSan Joaquin Valleywith Kirby Doylegroovinggetting free Digger meatfor Free City Conventiongroovingbehind talk of Kirby’s familybeen here a long timegroovingfriendship renewed, neat pickup truck, we stoppedat a gas stationman uptight at thesight of us, sight of Kirby’s hair, his friendlyloose face, my hair, our dressman surly, uptight, we droveaway brought down(across fields of insecticide and migrant workers)and‘Man’ I said‘that catso uptight, what’s he

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so uptight about, it’s notyour hair, not really, it’s justwhat the TV tells him about hippiesgot him scared, what he reads inhis magazinesgot him scared, we got tocome out from behind the imagesit down with him, if hesat down to a beer with you he’d finda helluva lot more to say than he’ll findwith the man who makes your imagehe’s got nothing in commonwith the men who run his mind, who tell himwhat to think of us’//SMASH THE MEDIA, I said,AND BURN THE SCHOOLSso people can meet, can sitand talk to each other, warm and closeno TV image flickeringbetween them.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #12the vortex of creation is the vortex of destructionthe vortex of artistic creation is the vortex of self destructionthe vortex of political creation is the vortex of flesh destructionflesh is in the fire, it curls and terribly warpsfat is in the fire, it drips and sizzling singsbones are in the firethey crack tellingly insubtle hieroglyphs of oraclecharcoal singedthe smell of your burning hairfor every revolutionary must at last will his own destructionrooted as he is in the past he sets out to destroy

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are just the front men for a gang of black magiciansbased ‘somewhere else’ in spaceto whom the WHOLE of earth is a colony to exploit(the ‘Nova Mob’ not so far out as you think)//Best not to place bodies in the line of firebut to seek other means: study the Siouxlearn not to fuck up as they did–another ghost dancestarted on Haight Street in 1967We ain’t seen the end of it yet

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #46And as you learn the magic, learn to believe itDon’t be ‘surprised’ when it works, you undercutyour power.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #47TO BE FREE we’ve got to be freeof any idea of freedom.Today the State Dept lifted the ban ontravel to China; and closedMerritt College.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #48Be careful.With what relief do we fall backon the tale, so often told in revolutionsthat now we mustorganize, obey the rules, so that laterwe can be free. It is the pointat which the revolution stops. To be carried forwardlater & in another country, this is

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REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #44(for my sisters)As we know that bloodis birth, agonybreaks open doors, as wecan bend, graciously, beneath burdens, underminelike rain, or earthworms, as our criesyield to the cries of the newborn, as we hearthe plea in the voices around us, not wordsof passion or cunning, discountanger or pride, grow strongin our own strength, women’s alchemy, quick armsto pull down walls, we liberateout of our knowledge, labor, sucking babes, weliberate, and nourish, as the earth

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #45And it seems to me the struggle has to be wagedon a number of different levels://they have computers to cast the I Ching for thembut we have yarrow stalksand the starsit is a battle of energies, of force-fields, what the newspaperscall a battle of ideas//to take hold of the magic any way we canand use it in total faithto seek help in realms we have been taught to think ofas ‘mythological’to contact ALL LEVELS of one’s own being& loose the forces thereinalways seeking in this to remain psychically inconspicuouson the not so unlikely chancethat those we have thought of as ‘instigators’

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REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #13now let me tell youwhat is a BrahmasastraBrahmasastra, hindu weapon of warnear as I can make outa flying wedge of mind energyhurled at the foe by god or heroor many heroeshurled at a problem or enemycracking it//Brahmasastra can be madeby any or allcan be made by all of usstraight or tripping, thinking togetherlike: all of us stop the warat nine o’clock tomorrow, each take one soldiersee him clearly, love him, take the gunout of his hand, lead him to a quiet spotsit him down, sit with him as he takes a jointof viet cong grass from his pocket . . .Brahmasastra can be madeby all of us, tripping togetherwinter solsticeat home, or in park, or wanderingsitting with friendsblinds closed, or on porch, no be-inno needto gather publiclyjust gather spirit, see the forest growingput back the big treesput back the buffalothe grasslands of the midwest with their herds of elk and deerput fish in clean Great Lakesdesire that all surface water on the planetbe clean again. Kneel down and drink

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from whatever brook or lake you conjure up.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #14are you preparedto hide someone in your home indefinitelysay, two to six weeks, you going outfor food, etc., so he never.hits the street, to keep your friends awaycoolly, so they ask no questions, to nursehim, or her, as necessary, to know‘first aid’ and healing (not to freak outat the sight of torn or half-cooked flesh)to pass him on at the right time to the nextstation, to cross the Canadian border, with a childso that the three of youlook like one family, no questions asked,or fewer, to stash letters, guns, or bombsforget about themtill they are called for, to KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUTnot to ‘trust’even your truelove, that is,lay no more knowledge on him than he needsto do his part of it, a kindnesswe all must extend to each other in this game

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #15When you seize Columbia, when youseize Paris, takethe media, tell the people what you’re doingwhat you’re up to and why and how you meanto do it, how they can help, keep the newscoming, steady, you have 70 yearsof media conditioning to combat, it is a wallyou must get through, somehow, to reach

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40% of the women of Puerto Ricoalready sterilized, transistor radiosthe ‘sterilization bonus’ in India; all propagandaaimed at the ‘non-white’ and ‘poor white’ populations//something like 90% of the land of USAbelongs to 5% of the population:how can they hold onwhen the hordes of the infants of the very poorgrow up, grow strong

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #43‘I dreamed of a world without the sick and the fat’– Yevtushenkothe map: first goal is healthstrong bodies make strong spirit, Venceremos Brigadecoming back from Cuba discover they know how to breathethey can get up with the sun; first thing:to zap the sugar habit, get rid of meat& heavy drugs, to eat no chemicals, no processed foodfirst step:to find out what health feels like: even keeltireless energy pouring steady through//then, prana (vital energy) moving smooththru all yr flesh: next goal releasesex force–strong flesh becomes bright fleshanger becomes ‘Buddha’s anger’ a steady roarrighteous, behind yr action, not spasmodic, threatensno self-destruction; loose touch onbrothers & sisters, loose force (& contain it)Holy Powerto build up, or pull down

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desert blows through Las Vegas, the sea licks its chopsat the oily edges of Los Angeles,the camels are breeding, the bears, the elk are increasingso are the indians and the very poordo you stir in your sleep, America, do you dream of your powerpastel colored oil tanks from sea to shining sea?sleep well, America, we stand by your bedside,the word has power, the chant is going up

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #41Revolution: a turning, as the earthturns, among planets, as the sunturns round some (darker) star, the galaxydescribes a yin-yang spiral in the aether, we turnfrom dark to light, turnfaces of pain & fear, the dawnawash among them

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #42what is this‘overpopulation’ problem, have youlooked at it, clearly, do you know//ten times as much land needed if we eathamburger, instead of grain; we canall fit, not hungry, if we minimizeour needs, RIP OFF LARGE, EMPTY RANCHES, make the foodnutritious: chemical fertilizershave to go, nitratespoison the water; large scale machine farminghas to go, the soilis blowing away (300 yearsto make one inch of topsoil), do you know//

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the instinctive man, who is struggling like a plantfor light, for air//when you seize a town, a campus, get hold of the powerstations, the water, the transportation,forget to negotiate, forget howto negotiate, don’t wait for De Gaulle or Kirkto abdicate, they won’t, you are not‘demonstrating’ you are fightinga war, fight to win, don’t wait for Johnson orHumphrey or Rockefeller, to agree to your termstake what you need, ‘it’s freebecause it’s yours’

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #16we are eating up the planet, the New York Timestakes a forest, every Sunday, Los Angelesdraws its water from the Sacramento Valleythe rivers of British Columbia are ourson lease for 99 years//every large factory is an infringementof our god-given right to light and airto clean and flowing rivers stocked with fishto the very possibility of lifefor our children’s children, we will have tolook carefully, i.e., do we really want/needelectricity and at what cost in natural resourcehuman resourcedo we need cars, when petroleumpumped from the earth poisons the land aroundfor 100 years, pumped from the carpoisons the hard-pressed cities, or try thisstatistic, the USA

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has 5% of the world’s people uses over50% of the world’s goods, our garbageholds matter for survival for uncounted‘underdeveloped’ nations

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #17we will all feel the pinchthere will not bea Cadillac and a 40,000 dollar homefor everyonesimplythe planet will not bear it//What there will be is enoughfood, enoughof the ‘necessities’, luxurieswill have to go by the board//even the poorest of uswill have to give up somethingto live free

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #18let’s talk about splitting, splitting is an artfrequently called upon in revolutionretreat, says the I Ching, must not be confusedwith flight, and furthermore, frequently, it furthersONE TO HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO//i.e., know in advancethe persons/place you can go to,means to get therekeep money (cash) in house for travellingan extra set of i.d., Robert Williams

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danced in the sun, till the starscame out & the pigsdrove around us in a circle, where we stoodtouching each other & loving, then Iwent home & made love like a flower, like two flowers openingto each other, we werethe jewel in the lotus, next morning still high wandered uptownto Natural History Museum & therein a room of Peruvian fauna, birdsof paradise I saw as a past, like the dinosaurssaw birds pass from the earth &flowers, most trees & small creatures:chipmunks & rabbits & squirrels & delicate wildflowerssaw the earth bare & smooth, austerely plastic & efficientmen feeding hydroponically, working like antsthought flatly, without regret (I have unlearnedregret)‘WHAT BEAUTIFUL CREATURESUSED TO LIVE ON THE EARTH’

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #40if the power of the word is anything, America, your oil fieldsburningyour cities in ruins, smouldering, pillaged by childrenyour cars broken down, at a standstill, choking the roadsyour citizens standing beside them, bewildered, or choosinga packload of objects (what they can carry away) if thepower of the word lives, America, your power lines downeagle-eyed lines of electric, of telephone, towersof radio transmissiontoppled & rankling in the fields, setting the hay ablazeyour newspapers useless, your populace illiteratewiping their asses with them,IF THE WORD HAS POWER YOU SHALL NOT STANDAMERICA, the wilderness is spreading from the parksyou have fenced it into, already

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REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #37GEOGRAPHY, U.S.A.the east edge ismegalopolis, isWashington, D.C., spread out800 miles, ecologytotally fucked up, eventhe brothers there do not completely believethat they can win; the west edgeis langorous w/wealth, there venisonis brought down from the hills & figs & winefrom abandoned orchards, the sistersraise their bastard young on welfare checks & rottensprayed vegetables, talk ‘free’, talk end of money, for themthe war is over, all the wars; the middleis hardly heard from yet, it isstirring, stretching muscles, bare bones of continent, eternal’progression of young barbarianshuge boiling meat-fed hordes who can’t be taughtthere’s anything to lose, angelic herds whose unholy yellis gonna shake us all

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #38NOT PEOPLE’S PARKPEOPLE’S PLANET, CAN THEYFENCE THAT ONE IN, BULLDOZE IT4 A.M.?

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #39

let me tell you, brothers, that on May 30th I went to one of ourlife festivalsdropped acid in Tompfkins Square Park with mybrothers & sisters

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was warned by his own TV set when the Manwas coming for him,he had his loot at home, his wife and kidsall crossed the country with him, into CANADAand on to CUBA//it’s a good ideato have good, working transportation ‘wheels’, one friendhas two weeks stashed in his VW busfood, water, matches, clothing, blankets, gas, he can goat least that long, before he hits a town, can leaveat any timesomething to think about . . .

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #19(for The Poor People’s Campaign)if what you want is jobsfor everyone, you are still the enemy,you have not thought thru, clearlywhat that means//if what you want is housing,industry (G.E. on the Navaho reservation)a car for everyone, garage, refrigerator,TV, more plumbing, scientificfreeways, you are stillthe enemy, you have chosento sacrifice the planet for a few years of somescience fiction Utopia, if what you want//still is, or can be, schoolswhere all our kids are pushed into one shape, are taughtit’s better to be ‘American’ than blackor Indian, or Jap, or PR, where Dickand Jane become and are the dream, do you

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look like Dick’s father, don’t you think your kidsecretly wishes you did//if what you wantis clinics where the AMAcan feed you pills to keep you weak, or sterileshoot germs into your kids, while Mercke & Cogrows richerif you wantfree psychiatric help for everyoneso that the shrinkspimps for this decadence, can makeit flower for us, if you wantif you still want a piecea small piece of suburbia, green lawnlaid down by the square footcolor TV, whose radiant energykills brain cells, whose subliminal adsbrainwash your children, have taken overyour dreams//degrees from universities which are nothingmore than slum landlords, festering sinksof lies, so you too can go forthand lie to others on some greeny campus//THEN YOU ARE STILLTHE ENEMY, you are sellingyourself short, rememberyou can have what you ask for, ask foreverything

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #20(for Huey Newton)I will not rest

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spirit you bring to birth, itnever was on earth, rise up, do notdroop, smoking hash or opium, dreaming sweetness, perhapsthere will be time for that, on the long beacheslying in love with the few of us who are left, but nowthe earth cries out for aid, our brothersand sisters set aside their childhoods, prepareto fight, what choice have we but join them, in their handsrests the survival of the very planet, the healthof the solar system, for we are onewith the stars and the spirit we forgethey wait for, Christ, Buddha, KrishnaParacelsus, had but a taste, we must reclaimthe planet, re-occupythis groundthe peace we seek was never seen before, the earthBELONGS, at last, TO THE LIVING

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #36who is the we, who isthe they in this thing, didwe or they kill the Indians, not memy people brought here, cheap labor to exploita continent for them, did weor they exploit it? do youadmit complicity, say ‘wehave to get out of Vietnam, we really shouldstop poisoning the water, etc.’ look closer, look again,secede, declare your independence, don’t accepta share of the guilt they want to lay on usMAN IS INNOCENT & BEAUTIFUL & bornto perfect bliss they envy, heavy deedsmake heavy hearts and to themlife is suffering, stand clear.

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which may or may not save the water, but will notshow us our root, or our original face, returnus to the source, how far(forward is back) are we willing to goafter all?

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #34hey man let’s make a revolution, let’s giveevery man a thunderbirdcolor TV, a refrigerator, freeantibiotics, let’s buildapartments with a separate bedroom for every childinflatable plastic sofas, vitamin pillswith all our daily requirements that come in the mailfree gas & electric & telephone &no rent, why not?//hey man, let’s make a revolution, let’sturn off the power, turn on thestars at night, put metalback in the earth, or at least not take it outanymore, make lots of guitars and flutes, teach the chickshow to heal with herbs, let’s learnto live with each other in a smaller space, and buildhogans, and domes and teepees all over the placeBLOW UP THE PETROLEUM LINES, make the carsinto flower pots or sculptures or livein the bigger ones, why not?

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #35rise up, mybrothers, do notbow your heads any longer, or prayexcept to the spirit you waken, the

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till men walk free & fearless on the eartheach doing in the manner of his blood& tribe, peaceful in the free air//till all can seek, unhinderedthe shape of their thoughtno black cloud fear or guiltbetween them & the sun, no babies burningyoung men locked away, no paper worldto come between flesh & flesh in humanencounter//till the young womencome into their own, honored & fearlessbirthing strong sonsloving & dancing//till the young men can at lastlose some of their sternness, returnto young men’s thoughts, till laughterbounces off our hills & fillsour plains

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #21Can youown land, can youown house, own rightsto other’s labor, (stocks, or factoriesor money, loaned at interest)what aboutthe yield of same, crops, autosairplanes dropping bombs, can youown real estate, so otherspay you rent? to whomdoes the water belong, to whom

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will the air belong, as it gets rarer?the american indians say that a mancan own no more than he can carry awayon his horse.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #22what do you wantyour kids to learn, do you careif they know factoring, chemical formulae, theoryof numbers, equations, philosophy, semanticssymbolic logic, latin, history, socalled, which ismerely history of mind of western man, least interestingof numberless manifestations on this planet?//do you careif he learns to eat off the woods, to seta broken arm, to mendhis own clothes, cook simple food, delivera calf or baby? if there are cars should he notbe able to keep his running?how will he learn these things, will he learn themcut off in a plaster box, encasedin a larger cement box called ‘school’ dealing with paperfrom morning till night, grinding no clay or mortar, nopigment, setting no seedlings in black earthcome spring, how will heknow to trap a rabbit, build a raft,to navigate by stars, or find safe groundto sleep on? what is he doing all his learning yearsinside, as if the planet were no more than a vehiclefor carrying our plastic constructs around the sun

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #23A lack of faith is simply a lack of courage

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capitalism, but ism, art, religion, once they areseparate enough to be seen and named, named art namedreligion, once they are notsimply the daily acts of life which bring the rain, bring bread, heal,

bringthe herds close enough to hunt, birth the childrensimply the acts of song, the acts of power, now lostto us these many years, not killing a few white men will bringback power, not killing all the white men, but killingthe white man in each of us, killing the desirefor brocade, for gold, for champagne brandy, which sendspeople out of the sun and out of their lives to createCOMMODITY for our pleasure, what claimdo we have, can we make, on another’s time, another’slife blood, show mea city which does not consume the air and waterfor miles around it, mohenjo-daro was a bloton the village culture of India, the cities of Egypt suckedthe life of millions, show mean artifact of city which has the poweras flesh has power, as spirit of manhas power

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #33how far backare we willing to go?“that seems to bethe question, the more we give upthe more we will be blessed, the morewe give up, the further back we go, can wemake it under the sky again, in moving tribesthat settle, build, move on and build againowning only what we carry, do we needthe village, division of labor, a friendly potlatcha couple of times a year, or must it bemerely a ‘cybernetic civilization’

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and stick your hair inside it, if it’s long hairor don’t, wear shoes if it’s snowing and you have shoesremember they buy out all the leaders, be a leaderif you want to be bought out, but remember totell the truth, just before they buy you, tell the truthloud, and the kids will hear you, not hear your moneyas it falls on the liquorstore counter, day after daynot hear your dreams of nightmare betrayal and torturenot hear your mercedes, they’ll hear the truth you spokethey’ll believe you and honor you after you die, brought downby that cia bullet you can’t avoid just by taking their moneythey’ll believe you and DO WHAT YOU SAYNOT WHAT YOU DO

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #31(for LeRoi, at long last)not all the works of Mozart worth one human lifenot all the brocaded of the Potala palacebetter we should wear homespun, than some in orlonsome in Thailand silkthe children of Bengal weave gold thread in silk sarissix years old, eight years old, for export, they don’t singthe singers are for export, Folkways recordsbetter we should all have homemade flutesand practice excruciatingly upon them, one hundred yearstill we learn tomake our own music

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #32not western civilization, but civilization itselfis the disease which is eating usnot the last five thousand years, but the last twenty thousandare the cancernot modern cities, but the city, not

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one who says ‘I wish I could believe that’ means simply that heis coward, is pleasedto be spectator, on this scene where there are no spectatorswhere all hands not actually working are working againstas they lie idle, folded in lap, or holding up newspapersfull of lies, or wrapped around steering wheel, on one morepleasure trip

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #24Have you thought about the American aborigineswho will inhabitthis continent? Cave dwellers, tent people, tree dwellers, will

yourgreat-grandchildren be among them? Will they sellartifacts–abalone or wool–to the affluenthighly civilized Africanswho come here in the summer, will they wearbuckskin, or cotton, loincloth, run downdeer, catch fish barehanded, build teepees, hogans, rememberto use the wheel, to write, to speak, or simply drum & pipe,smiling, will your great-grandchildren be among them?

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #25Know every wayout of your house, where it goes, every alleyon the block, which back yards connect, which wallsare scalable, which busheswill hold a man.Construct at least one man-sized hiding placein your walls, know for sure which neighborswill let you sneak in the back door & saunter out the frontwhile the man is parked in your driveway, or tearingyour pad apart, which neighbors won’t be home, which cellar

doors

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are open–whom you can summon in your neighborhoodto do your errands, check the block, set upa getaway while you sit tight inside & your houseis watched . . .

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #26‘DOES THE ENDJUSTIFY THE MEANS?’ this isprocess, there is no end, there are onlymeans, each onehad better justify itself.To whom?

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #27How muchcan we afford to lose, before we win, can wecut hair, or give up drugs, takejob, join Minute’Men, marry, wear their clothes,play bingo, whatcan we stomach, how soondoes it leave its mark, can weliving straight in a straight part of town still seeour people, can we liveif we don’t see our people? ‘It is betterto lose & win, than win & bedefeated’ sd Gertrude Stein, which wd youchoose?

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #28O my brothersbusted for pot, for looting, for lovingyoung beautiful brothers & sisters, for holding out hopein both hands to the Man, enraging him

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O my brothers, freaking out this moment this beautiful summerevening

in all the cages of Americawhile the sun goes down on this fabled & holy land://know that we have this land, we are filling its crevicesits caves and forests, its coastlines and holy placeswith our mating flesh, with the fierce play of our children our

numbers increasingwe are approaching your cells, to cut you looseto march triumphant with you, crying outto Maitreya, across the Pacific

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #29beware of thosewho say we are the beautiful loserswho stand in their long hair and wait to be punishedwho weep on beaches for our isolation//we are not alone: we have brothers in all the hillswe have sisters in the jungles and in the ozarkswe even have brothers on the frozen tundrathey sit by their fires, they sing, they gather armsthey multiply: they will reclaim the earth//nowhere we can go but they are waiting for usno exile where we will not hear welcome home‘goodmorning sister, let me work with yougoodmorning brother, let mefight by your side’

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #30(To Those Who Sold the Revolution Summer of ’68)remember to wear a hat, if you have a hat