A Nod to Fellow Travelers
By Sir Jacob, Master of the Arts
Photos: Ulli Richter
Please master can I touch your check
Please master can I kneel at your feet
~Allen Ginsberg, “Please Master,” 1968
Mid-20th century U.S.A. – Founding dads of Leather returned from war changed men, feeling that they could “never go home again.” Simultaneously, the vanguard of the Beatnik counterculture left the academy and embarked on a quest for spiritual liberation. These two tribes, with seemingly little in common on the surface, exchanged more than a fleeting cruisy glance as they swaggered their way through the ‘50s and ‘60s. The attraction was understandable. Leathermen and Beatniks had more in common than meets the eye. That much is apparent even from a half-assed survey of seminal works by the Beatnik holy trinity – Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac. That common ground, however, is obscure from our polarized present-day vantage point. To see it, one must peep through a gloryhole in the wall of time and gaze into an esoteric homomasculine world that existed during pre-Stonewall days.
A Nod to Fellow Travelers
By Sir Jacob, Master of the Arts
Photos: Ulli Richter
Please master can I touch your check
Please master can I kneel at your feet
~Allen Ginsberg, “Please Master,” 1968
Mid-20th century U.S.A. – Founding dads of Leather returned from war changed men, feeling that they could “never go home again.” Simultaneously, the vanguard of the Beatnik counterculture left the academy and embarked on a quest for spiritual liberation. These two tribes, with seemingly little in common on the surface, exchanged more than a fleeting cruisy glance as they swaggered their way through the ‘50s and ‘60s. The attraction was understandable. Leathermen and Beatniks had more in common than meets the eye. That much is apparent even from a half-assed survey of seminal works by the Beatnik holy trinity – Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac. That common ground, however, is obscure from our polarized present-day vantage point. To see it, one must peep through a gloryhole in the wall of time and gaze into an esoteric homomasculine world that existed during pre-Stonewall days.