Howl May Not be Obscene, But Does Speak to the Times

On the 25th of March, 1957, customs officials seized 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s book Howl and Other Poems which had been shipped from a printer in London. The publisher and bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti was charged with purveying obscenity.

On this day in 1957 Judge Clayton Horn declared in favor of Ferlinghetti, declaring the poem’s importance.

Considering our times, this seems a worthy moment to recall it, the rage, and the beauty…