Gerd Stern, a Beat poet, shared his experiences during a troubling period in the late 1940s. Struggling with homelessness and malnourishment, he sought refuge in a New York psychiatric hospital where he encountered fellow poets Allen Ginsberg and Carl Solomon. This encounter would lay the foundation for the profound literary relationship highlighted in Ginsberg's iconic poem, 'Howl.' Stern's recollections illustrate the challenges artists face and the powerful bonds they form amidst adversity, culminating in a notable chapter of counterculture history as he reflected on their early encounters before his death at 96.
He told me that my father could not afford his fees and advised me to go immediately to Presbyterian Hospital's Psychiatric Institute on West 168th Street.
When I asked the doorman for Otto Stern, apartment 96, stating that I was his son, he said, No Way, but nevertheless phoned.
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