35. American Rimbaud

•He was an American Beat poet and surrealist inspired by jazz music. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "American Rimbaud."

•He said of his own work, "My head is a bony guitar, strung with tongues, plucked by fingers & nails.“

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•After learning of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he took a Buddhist vow of silence that lasted until the end of the Vietnam War in 1973. He broke his silence by reciting his poem "All Those Ships that Never Sailed," the first lines of which are

All those ships that never sailed
The ones with their seacocks open
That were scuttled in their stalls...
Today I bring them back
Huge and transitory
And let them sail
Forever

•Which great poet?