In 1985, at the invitation of Rex Weyler, Allen Ginsberg accepted an invitation to lead a poetry and meditation retreat at Hollyhock Farm on Cortes Island for a handful of participants that included Trevor Carolan, who recorded his memories and impressions of accompanying his mentor to Cortes Island in Giving Up Poetry: With Allen Ginsberg at Hollyhock (Banff Centre Press, 2001). An excerpt has been reprinted in the collection entitled off beat, edited by Hillel Wright, who recorded an interview with Ginsberg at Hollyhock on May 5, 1985, using a portable, reel-to-reel tape recorder from Vancouver Co-op Radio. "After we had stopped the tape recorder and smoked some of the best homegrown buds I'd ever had, the interview took a decided turn for the better and we talked about underground comics, poetry magazines, his favourite music and musicians, Bob Dylan's lyrics, pornography, the Evergreen Review, poet D.A. Levy and the FBI."; off beat features the transcript of Wright's 45-minute talk with Ginsberg, as well as a CD version. 978-1-933606-19-4

[BCBW 2010]