Jim Carroll, punk-rock poet and musician who is also well-known for his biography of his wild and drug filled teen years, The Basketball Diaries, died on Friday of a heart attack. He was 60 years old.
Carroll’s poetry was praised by icons of the Beat Generation including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.
There will always be a poem
I will climb on top of it and come
In and out of time,
Cocking my head to the side slightly,
As I finish shaking, melting then
Into its body, its soft skin
–Jim Carroll, “Poem”
from Void of Course (1998)