RIP Tuli Kupferberg (1923-2010)

July 12, 2010 in People by Bryan | 2 comments

“who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown”

Short obit from the Times.

Previously on PWHNY.

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2 comments

  1. Thelma Blitz’s avatar

    Thelma Blitz on July 12, 2010 at 9:27 pm

    “who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown”

    This ACTUALLY did not happen. Actually, Allen Ginsberg made it up. Tuli asked me to tell the world that you cannot walk away from jumping off a bridge. He was picked up by a passing tugboat and taken to a hospital with a broken transverse process, a severe spinal injury, and spent a lot of time in a body cast.
    Tuli thought it important to recognize this line from Howl as a poetic creation, not a factual report to discourage people from trying it.

  2. Bryan’s avatar

    Bryan on July 13, 2010 at 10:23 am

    Thanks, Thelma — I knew that Ginsberg got it wrong, and that it ended in hospitalization. (In the post linked via “Previously on PWHNY” I make the same clarification you just did.) It’s a beautiful line, though not to be attempted at home. And to me the line seemed even more beautiful thinking that TK had now walked off into the ghostly daze of Chinatown — though I sincerely hope not unknown or forgotten. Our thoughts are with his loved ones.

    best,

    bw

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