While I love Kerouac's prose, I am not a fan of his poetry. This collection did nothing to change that. However, I did like the first batch in here, the 80 choruses titled "San Francisco Blues ". The San Francisco in here is not the one that the tourists see. It's battered and dreary, filled with drunks, whores, and the weary working man. That all struck a chord with me. The rest of the poems did not, some seemingly just gibberish to my eyes. ( )

I am not a big fan of Kerouac, but I was very pleased with this book. His method of composing words around music and jazz I found translated very well in his poetry. The fact that it didnt seem that he was trying to be a poet gave his verse that much more of a resonance that I feel is missing in much of his prose. All that being said, it would be hard to get a feel for this book without already being familiar with at least some of his prose for it is very intimate and needs a little background. Was a pleasure to read. ( )