{"id":4170,"date":"2022-01-10T22:18:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4170"},"modified":"2025-03-01T18:48:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T02:48:33","slug":"uncollected-works-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/articles-poems-by-jim-carroll\/uncollected-works-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncollected Works #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Of all of the pieces collected here, only the “Author’s Note” appears in a book by Jim Carroll. The “Author’s Note” appears only in the original 1978 edition of The Basketball Diaries<\/em>. The others are published only in magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a Diary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Adventures in Poetry<\/em> 2 (July 1968)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 26, 1963<\/strong>
Today was the big game against Orlando’s Furniture and we beat the living shit out of them. We were drinking all morning and didn’t think we had a chance, but the minute the game started we noticed that any shot we took seemed to go in so we won the championship of the league by about 20 points. I got 43 points and tied some record. We waited around after the game for our trophies but the prick from the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce came over and explained to us that the trophies were for the winners of the regular season, and not for the winners of the playoffs, so Orlando’s got the trophies instead of us. They beat us during the regular season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Author’s Note<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Basketball Diaries<\/em> (first edition)
Tombouctou, 1978<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to clear a few matters up pertaining to these diaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 12 yrs. Old when I began writing it down,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It continued until I was 15 nearing 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Did it all really happen to you?” I get that one put to me often. Well . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer that simply, they are as much fiction as biography. They were as much made up as they were lived out. It all happened. None of it happened. It was me. Now it’s you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Nothing is true; Everything is permitted.”
Hassan Sabah<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Cops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

(1969)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I notice that cops
are often tense
Often awkward people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in getting off buses
cops don’t wait
for the green light to indicate the door is open
leaving them pounding on it
and disturbing my nod<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cops lack imagination.
who that carries a gun so close to his thigh
possesses imagination?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how can cops
with their awkwardness
and feeble imagination
even begin to think of themselves as good sex partners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you would laugh
at a cop in bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cops are paranoid
they jitter as they walk
they don’t breathe air easily<\/p>\n\n\n\n

realizing my basic
freedom
I breathe the air quire easily
as I walk to places where I see less cops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people seem
to like cops
I, for one, do not dig these mother fuckers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Catholics on Dope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Little Caesar<\/em> 4 (Nov. 1977)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a fathomless
light
blasting from the wound<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to lay the
dream against it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

before it disappears<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though I have no
comfort to give . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My stone tongue drips
the poison moss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my fingers long
for the wound
they peel back the slit flesh like petal from rose<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And sink deep . .
. the blood curls
like white Papal smoke under my finger nails<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They lace the wound
with a love not shared<\/p>\n\n\n\n

man to man . . .
woman to woman
woman to man I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long for the wound
. . .
“To make it right . . .”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To shoot this scum
back under the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3\/28\/75<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

My Pale Skin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Long Shot<\/em> 2 (1983)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You walk your
heart savagely
Along the beach, like a pet
abused by the trivia of passion
and the blistered claws of a sun
caged in its zenith, losing
ambition day by day. At your heel
It turned sand bleached white<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like an albino toad,
a sick
pumping agate. Dogs follow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cautiously for what
you have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It curls in the quick
fog
Off the lagoon, dragging
a curtain of salt sting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It insists to you.
It risks any exposure
In time, finally resting
As my feet take the waves, it braces
Its tubes to my wrist like a watch,
Its pulse lighting digits of severed blood,
smaller than a landlord’s practiced tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

All poems \u00a9 1968, 1969, 1977, 1983 by Jim Carroll
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION PROHIBITED<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all of the pieces collected here, only the “Author’s Note” appears in a book by Jim Carroll. The “Author’s Note” appears only in the original 1978 edition of The Basketball Diaries. The others are published only in magazines. From a Diary Adventures in Poetry 2 (July 1968) January 26, 1963Today was the big game … Continue reading Uncollected Works #1<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":4165,"menu_order":8,"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":[50],"class_list":["post-4170","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-15g","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8649,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-first-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":0},"title":"The Basketball Diaries (First Edition)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Basketball Diaries: 1963-1966First EditionBy: Jim CarrollPublished: 1978Publisher: Tombouctou Press (Bolinas, CA)Format: PaperbackCover photograph: Rosemary Klemfuss The first edition of\u00a0The Basketball Diaries, the only one (from what booksellers tell me) that has any value as a collectors' item, has a number of distinctive characteristics. First, the cover photograph, by Rosemary\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Jim Carroll- First Edition of The Basketball Diaries 1978","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bd1cov.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":1},"title":"The Basketball Diaries: Editions","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"August 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Carroll wrote his autobiographical tales of \"growing up hip\" on New York's mean streets\" between the ages of 12 and 16, from 1962 to 1966. Carroll earned a scholarship to a posh private school (see\u00a0Trinity Yearbook page) and spent his time playing basketball, stealing, hustling gay men to support his\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bd1cov.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4165,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/articles-poems-by-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":2},"title":"Articles & Poems by Jim Carroll","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The Man Who Sold the World.\"\u00a0By Jim Carroll.\u00a0New York Times Book Review, 1 Dec. 2002.Carroll reviews Kurt Cobain's\u00a0Journals: \"It's fascinating like a car wreck, and I, for one, wish that only the music survived his death.\" \"I Shot a Deer.\" By Jim Carroll.\u00a0Gentlemen's Quarterly, January 2002: 113-14.GQ\u00a0asked five writers to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4603,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-void-of-course-jim-carroll-book-review-catholicboy-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":3},"title":"Review of Void of Course – Publishers Weekly","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Publishers Weekly 28 Sept. 1998 (p. 96) Jim Carroll. Penguin, $12.95 paper (l28p) ISBN 0-14-058909-0 An alternately self-exposing and swaggering Bukowskian diarist, Carroll reinforces his rock-star-like pop culture niche with his latest volume of poetry, which somewhat resembles a compilation of power ballads. Given that Carroll's fame was established by\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4411,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/stage-adaptations\/the-basketball-diaries-hits-off-off-off-broadway\/fringenyc-2001-reviews-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":4},"title":"Fringe NYC 2001 Reviews #7","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries\u00a0by Pascal UlliReview by Michael CriscuoloNYTheater.com\u00a0August 2001 Swiss actor Pascal Ulli has adapted Jim Carroll's autobiographical novel,\u00a0The Basketball Diaries, into a solo showcase for himself. Considering Ulli's affinity for method acting (which he details extensively in his program bio), Carroll's book -- which chronicles the author's\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4694,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carrolls-films\/scott-kalverts-the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-film-guide\/the-basketball-diaries-film-a-scene-by-scene-reference-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":5},"title":"The Basketball Diaries Film: A Scene-by-Scene Reference Guide","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This document attempts to link each scene in Scott Kalvert's film The BasketballDiaries to specific entries in Jim Carroll's autobiography of the same title. I havestudied Carroll's work for ten years, and after viewing Kalvert's film five or six times,I still could not figure out why it was called The\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\/4170","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4170"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8280,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4170\/revisions\/8280"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}