{"id":4010,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4010"},"modified":"2025-03-05T18:39:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:39:59","slug":"nods-of-days-gone-by","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carrolls-interviews\/nods-of-days-gone-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Nods of Days Gone By"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Interview by\u00a0Karl Irving<\/a>
UC Santa Barbara\u00a0Daily Nexus<\/em>,
Arts & Entertainment, 22 May 1986, p. 5A<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a brisk and foggy morning when I called Jim Carroll at his office in New York City (“The greatest hero a writer needs,” he once wrote). I could sense a tense anticipation for the first question. Once he began to speak, however, he was completely relaxed and quite amiable. He occasionally wandered, expanding upon his own statements, eventually looping back to the main topic as if that had been his intention all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several observations were made immediately: He was admirably open about himself and his work; he had no desire to keep the interview formal (quite alright by me); and his artistic mind is permanently at work. This man in his mid-thirties bears every indication of having been through an extreme metamorphosis since being a 15-year-old junky hanging out with Allen Ginsberg et al. We spoke about various subjects; his new book, animal behaviorism, Lou Reed. The following is condensed from a forty-minute conversation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did you get the idea for “Nods”? Have you been writing a lot of them through the years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, when I started to put it together (Book of Nods<\/em>) I wanted to fill the whole book with prose. When Penguin re-released Living at the Movies<\/em>, when I got my new rock audience, I wanted to get together a new book of poems. I had a lot of nod-like pieces. I\u2019ve actually been writing the Book of Nods <\/em>since I was seventeen. The first ones were inspired by any narcotic nod – codeine, smoking grass… Most people just seem to focus on my heroin thing, but that\u2019s not it at all. Most don\u2019t deal with heroin nods. It\u2019s kind of a double entendre, really. The main reason I wanted to call them “nods” and not just “prose poems” is because they\u2019re dream-like. Yet, I\u2019m not into surrealism for surrealism\u2019s sake. If it doesn\u2019t have sensitivity it gets into negativity and becomes boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet you seem to have this thing with Rimbaud… In one of your nods you talk about him. You meet up with Van Gogh in another. Do you often get “visitations” from artistic characters, like Ginsberg?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You mean Ginsberg\u2019s poem from Blake? Oh no (laugh), I haven\u2019t been “visited” by anyone actually. You know, people like to lay this Rimbaud thing on me. Patti Smith was the first one to force him on me. She had an obsession with him. I never read him in my youth; the label was just laid on me. Some people wanted me to quit writing poems at nineteen, like he did. Patti and I were living together at that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got into him (Rimbaud) when I was living in California. I was living in the country for the first time in my life. That\u2019s when the “Variations” (from Nods) <\/em>were written, and some of the poems at the end. Some longer ones were written more recently, but when I came back to New York I was too intensely involved in rock \u2018n\u2019 roll to be writing lots of poems. A big change came into my life then. One of the best books about Rimbaud is Henry Miller\u2019s The Time of the Assassin<\/em>. It was some of Miller\u2019s statements that made me get into rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. It should be more than just poets stylistically writing for other poets. That\u2019s what, I think, enthused my first album to be by far my best, although I\u2019m sure it\u2019s to be eclipsed by my new album. You know, a lot of poets cover up with bullshit and lies, and I wanted to kind of open up. Rock \u2018n\u2019 roll was a way to reach people and change things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My nods of Rimbaud come from historical stories. Well, not the one about him having a toothache, but like him running guns (there weren\u2019t any bazookas and mortars at the time, though) and the thing about him being lovers with Verlaine. As for that one with Van Gogh, where he hits the woman and then says “There! Now you really have something to cry about!” is from an old Zen story, about a Zen priest who does the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You also wrote a nod entitled “Five Irresponsible Students of Zen”. Some of the beats like Kerouac delved into Buddhism. Have you experimented with it yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I just have a lot of Zen friends. Right now the top Zen priest in America, previously Richard Baker, is an old friend of mine. My old manager had met him in the Merchant Marine. He really liked “People Who Died”. I don\u2019t know too much about their rituals, but once a year, they give these prayer sequences for people who\u2019ve died. My song kind of evoked that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my pieces about Buddha are just kind of visionary and historical. I have <\/em>always understood a natural intuitive sense of Zen, because I was an athlete. Like the archery story, about not aiming. I knew that when I was young, when I was a baseball pitcher. But that\u2019s just a secular notion for me. I couldn\u2019t really get into Zen. I\u2019m too Catholic for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you speak of people from your past is it a form of catharsis, or rather a simple memorial?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wouldn\u2019t think of it as a catharsis – that\u2019s a rather morbid notion. It is pretty much a memorial. Like “People Who Died” is not at all a morbid song. It\u2019s a memorial to those whose lives were cut off before their goals could be fulfilled. There\u2019s a heroic sense to that – people dying young within their own struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Nods, <\/em>there was a reference to the same Eddie in one of my nods, but most of the characterizations are fictional, except for the historical figures like Rimbaud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It should be more than just poets stylistically writing for other poets.”
\u2014 Jim Carroll<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You frequently mention a “sister” in your new book. Is this fictional as well?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I don’t have a sister, strictly speaking. When I speak of a “sister”, I\u2019m thinking about a girlfriend, really. Any girlfriend becomes sister-like to me, you know, after we\u2019ve been lovers. It\u2019s just a generic use of the word. In “People who Died” I refer to Eddie as my brother and some people took it literally. He wasn\u2019t my brother; he was just a friend. I do have a brother, but he\u2019s not dead. He\u2019s not really into the things I do, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve had a close association with Lou Reed. What could you tell me about the “man behind the legend”?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can I tell you? I don\u2019t know. He\u2019s one of my closest friends. He\u2019s a sweetheart, that\u2019s what he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was that nod you dedicated to him and his wife, “Dueling the Monkey”?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s just different Tai Chi moves, really. Lou\u2019s really into that stuff. We did this poetry reading in Toronto, and when we were flying back \u2014 Lou\u2019s wife Sylvia was with us, and my wife was with us \u2014 Lou handed me this Tai Chi book that I found interesting and I juxtaposed some of the images into the poem. It had nothing to do objectively with Lou and Sylvia, actually. William Burroughs works with that stuff all the time. Once, I remember he had this computer and we were all sitting around\u2014there were twelve poets \u2014 and it made every permutation it could with twelve lines. It was great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You just made a trip to Germany. What did you do there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a music festival in a town called Bremen for a couple of days. I did some poetry reading one night. Burroughs was there. It was interesting. I did some walking with Burroughs, and we went into the old part of the city, and it was like walking in another century. Burroughs seemed quite comfortable, like he became affluent in it. He didn\u2019t seem so science-fictiony, you know? He seemed real <\/em>for once. He\u2019s not a close friend, but we like each other. I admire his works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That radioactive cloud was passing through at the time. The government told people not to go out into the rain. I wasn\u2019t too worried. I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not glowing or anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “terrorism” didn\u2019t scare you away either?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I think the nuclear cloud acted like a global can of roach spray and scattered all the terrorists away, you know? No, a field journalist I talked to said it was absolutely ridiculous to be paranoid about it. Yeah, I guess I could have been blown to bits, but I wasn\u2019t going to pass up reading fifteen minutes of poetry for three thousand bucks. Some of my friends were worried, but <\/em>when I found out Sylvester Stallone wasn\u2019t going to Cannes, I said “Fuck that – if that wimp won\u2019t go, I will.” Rambo <\/em>won\u2019t go? What a piss-ass motherfucker. You know, I saw him once on the street in New York. He wouldn\u2019t give his autograph to these construction workers who climbed all the way down off this building they were working on. What a dick-heap. They should have cracked his skull in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 1985 Karl Irving \/ Daily Nexus<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

See Irving’s accompanying article,\u00a0“<\/a>Visions from a Razor’s Edge”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview by\u00a0Karl IrvingUC Santa Barbara\u00a0Daily Nexus,Arts & Entertainment, 22 May 1986, p. 5A It was a brisk and foggy morning when I called Jim Carroll at his office in New York City (“The greatest hero a writer needs,” he once wrote). I could sense a tense anticipation for the first question. Once he began to … Continue reading Nods of Days Gone By<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3992,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[44],"class_list":["post-4010","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-12G","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4212,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carrolls-interviews\/interview-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4010,"position":0},"title":"Interview: Jim Carroll","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Curtis WaterburyPortland CitySearch.com\u00a01 October 1999 Jim Carroll (1998) \u00a9Ray Lego\/Cut the Fat With a new rock album in stores, a new book of poetry on the shelves and two novels in the works, Jim Carroll, 49, is hitting middle age with a confident stride\u2014not to mention a cult-like status.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Jim Carroll (1998) \u00a9Ray Lego\/Cut the Fat","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/poolspromo2.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/poolspromo2.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/poolspromo2.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/poolspromo2.gif?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4205,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carrolls-interviews\/catholic-boy-jim-carroll-returns-to-rock\/","url_meta":{"origin":4010,"position":1},"title":"Catholic Boy Jim Carroll Returns to Rock","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Interview by Lisa Scott,CatholicBoy.com 1998 After fourteen years, Jim Carroll dives back into rock and roll with\u00a0Pools of Mercury\u00a0(Mercury), a brilliant hybrid album combining music-backed spoken-word and song-structured rock and roll. Despite many attempts to get Jim back into the studio, it took a collaboration with producer Anton Sanko to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4769,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carrolls-interviews\/verbal-entries-an-interview-with-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4010,"position":2},"title":"Verbal Entries: An Interview with Jim Carroll","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Thomas GladyszBooksmith Reader\u00a01996 Perhaps best known as a rock musician, Jim Carroll is also an accomplished poet and writer. His best lyrics, such as \"People Who Died,\" are themselves a kind of poetry. Recently, a film based on his best-selling book,\u00a0The Basketball Diaries, was released to general acclaim. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4233,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-fear-of-dreaming-by-merry-fortune-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":4010,"position":3},"title":"Review of Fear of Dreaming by Merry Fortune – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Research > Book Reviews > Review of Fear of Dreaming by Merry Fortune Review of Fear of Dreaming Fear of Dreaming: The Selected Poems of Jim Carroll by Merry Fortune The Poetry Project Newsletter February\/March 1994 Long before I knew you, I knew something was wrong with you.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4464,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/feature-articles\/jim-carroll-caught-in-a-trap\/","url_meta":{"origin":4010,"position":4},"title":"Jim Carroll: Caught in a Trap","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Frank DiCostanzo & Michael WorkmanLumpen Times\u00a08 May 1999 Exclusive: includes the entire Jim Carroll interview! On Saturday, May 8, diarist, musician and poet Jim Carroll made a rare appearance at Chicago night spot the Hothouse, 31 East Balbo, a spacious setting filled with Brazilian rhythms and flavor. He read\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4465,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/feature-articles\/jim-carroll-caught-in-a-trap-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4010,"position":5},"title":"Jim Carroll: Caught in a Trap","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Research > Interviews > Jim Carroll: Caught in a Trap (1999) Jim Carroll: Caught in a Trap by Frank DiCostanzo & Michael Workman Lumpen Times 8 May 1999 Exclusive: includes the entire Jim Carroll interview! On Saturday, May 8, diarist, musician and poet Jim Carroll made a rare\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4010"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8527,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4010\/revisions\/8527"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}